From Changes Till Consequences
by Gordon Anderson
Summary: Join the six l'Cie on their crazy, little road trip through the desert of Cocoon and all the troubles Lightning, Sazh & Co. are confronted with. Chapter 10. Never stop at a bar, during a road trip as the traditional bar fight won't be long in coming.
1. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere

**A/N: Greetings, everyone^^. When I listened to some music couple of nights ago, I stumpled on "Dark Night", the epic intro song from From Dusk Till Dawn. So I thought the plot or rather the opening from this movie would give some great opportunities to make an interesting Final Fantasy XIII story. For now it's just the beginning but let's see how things will develop. Of course I won't just copy&paste the entire movie. Maybe just a little bit of the background scenario and the locations. It's just an idea I had in the middle of the night and just started to write the first chapter. Again…let's see how everything develops and hopefully have some fun. :D**

**I chose Lightning and Sazh for the beginning because I really think that those two don't have that many stories where they actually interact together. And in my opinion they have a lot of potential and are just badass. Especially Sazh with his little friend up there.^^ Now the story takes place somewhere in the middle of the game though the course of history differs from the real one. But they are still in Cocoon. Although story and characters are slightly AU.^^**

**Please bear with my writing. This is my very first Fanfic and English is not my primary language. So I hope they aren't too many mistakes in there.^^**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**So here we go…ps: sentences in italics are always thoughts.**

Chapter 1

Somewhere in the desert of Cocoon at a convenience store. 04:08 p.m.

The front door was kicked open. Lightning exited the store furiously. She stopped as the door slammed behind her. _How in the world is it possible that we ALWAYS end up in some kind of trouble?_ _Of all the places where we could have done it._ _No matter where and when…there is always some shit going down._

She sighed and blew some of her pink hair out of her face. As she continued to walk she tilted her head to the right and to the left side. It cracked. _Ah yes, _she shivered briefly_, exactly what I needed after that kind of workout. _

Meanwhile the door behind her was pushed open. "Yo Lightning...", Sazh had to cough. She paid no attention. She was more focused on putting her gunblade back into its holster. She did this with elegance and extreme accuracy while her weapon transformed. She smirked. After hundreds of battles along the way, she could do this with closed eyes. _Just too good._ _As always. _

"Yo Lightning, wait up, damnit!"

_God, he seriously needs to shut up._ She stopped.

"Ah finally, girl."

She looked over her shoulder. "What did you just call me?"

"What?" Sazh cleared his throat. "Whoa...I mean...shouldn't we talk about what just happened back there?"

She turned over. "Tz", she folded her arms over her chest. "What is there to talk about, huh?" She couldn't be more annoyed and maybe a little bit ashamed.

"Well...I mean...is it always like this when you…uhm…try to go shopping?"

Rage stormed through her body. "Try to go shopping? Is this supposed to be a freaking joke?" Her fist was already on it's way to his jaw when some of the stores windows burst. Black smoke rose into the air. _Just great._ Lightning turned around and started to walk. She couldn't care less.

"Yo, Lightning, wait up...maybe we should..." Suddenly, the smoke was replaced by actual fire and the whole place started slowly to disappear under a sea of flames. _Oh shit._ Sazh rubbed his neck. _This is…just bad._

"Quiieek." The chocobo chick glanced at the flames and waved around with it's little wings but Sazh pushed it back into his hair. _You better not see this, little friend._ Lightning smirked in the background.

"You see, this is what you get when you pull a stunt like that!", she mentioned. "What was the plan again? Yeah…buy some supplies, no smalltalk, no itchy trigger finger and then leave."

"What?" He waved around with his hands. He still held his guns. "Well, I don't recall being the one to tear half of this place apart by summoning your oh-looks-so-good-and-is-so-awesome Odin." He didn't stop there. "You know, I have never really been impressed with it on our journey AT ALL! Seriously, a horse?"

_Is this guy ever going to shut up?_ _He is asking me indirectly for "help", right?_ She walked straight to him until she was just a couple of inches away from him. She looked deep into his eyes.

"You know Sazh, you're so walking on thin ice right know…" In her imagination, his body was already on the ground and she on top of him, giving him the "requestet treatment" in the form of multiple and heavy beatings. _What a nice thought. _She stopped her excursion into a world full of joy though. "…and my horse just saved your sorry ass!"

Sazh stared at the ground. "I…I know, Lightning, but…" Lightning pressed her finger against his chest. "…you know…it's bad enough that I always have to save the day but you…you…how could you…?" He blushed. "Ahm, well…"

"Tz…god, Sazh!". _Can you actually believe this? _

"Well do you know it's name?", Sazh asked. "That could have really helped, you know!"

"What kind of dumb question is this? Why the hell should I have to know it's name? Your pet, your job. And if I tried to call out it's name, it sure as hell wouldn't have shown up, because it just responds to YOU!" Sazh knew that she was right. He felt sorry instantly. "But I don't have time to deal with your toy anyway…and besides...ever considered wearing a cap?"

He glimpsed at her. "A cap?" _Me and a cap?_ He smirked. "I can't do this to my hair…and besides…someone else wouldn't be so happy about that, right?" He pointed at his hair.

"Oh yeah, right. Your little friend. Don't want him to get all postal up there, eh!" She turned away. "Stupid little chocobo", she mumbled. _But it's still soo cute. Ah damn._

"Ey you take that back, you hear me!" Sazh pointed at her, STILL with the guns in his hands.

"Or what?" She glanced at him. "Are you just pointing one of your guns at me?"

_Oh damn. Shit, how could I forget I'd still hold them._ He put them away as fast as possible. _Shit, shit. Pointing a gun at her, be it on purpose or not, is equal to instant death. Especially after this situation. Hope she didn't see this clearly._

"What?…Hell no…I wanted to say..."

"Yeah?" _Bring it on, big guy. Just a little more. _

Sazh could feel his throat drying-out. _This isn't worth it._ "Well...no...I just think this whole situation was completely unnecessary."

_Lucky Bastard._ She grinned. "Ah calm down yourself. When is it ever necessary?" They started to walk.

"No seriously, why is there always someone trying to shoot us?"

"When isn't someone trying to shoot us, trying to kidnap us or trying to beat us up? You have noticed by now that being a l'Cie isn't really half the battle, right?" _What is it with all the dumb questions?_ "And if I hadn't done anything, we wouldn't be here right now."

"Whoa, slow down here. I had everything under control. You see, as you and that guy…"

_Is he serious? _"Yeah…sure as hell. If you hadn't...why are we wasting our time still talking about this? Let's get the hell out of here! We lost enough time already."

Sazh grinned. "It sure as hell was hot with you two though. For a moment I really…"

"Finish this sentence and die!" _Please do._

"Whoa…didn't say a thing." _Oh you nasty, little…_

They crossed the highway. No soul to be seen far and wide. They arrived at their car. Something knocked against the trunk from the inside.

"Hey guys. Hey guys you there? I…I heard some noices…and screams…and gunshots. Everything all right? Can I come out now, please…Light?…Sazh?…Hello?" Lightning frowned. "Open the trunk, Sazh" - "Whatever you say, darling."

She turned to her right side and rested her left hand on her hip. "Tz" _Does he even realize he is so close to being chopped to pieces?_ Sazh opened the trunk. Little Hope looked up at them. "Oh thank the heavens…finally."

He jumped out of the trunk and milled around to stretch his legs. "Ah, my legs." He touched his knees. They hurt real bad. He looked around. "Now you two took some time out there. What did you...?" His eyes caught the burning store and he fell silent. _Holy_…i_s this really happening right now? _"Uh, guys...?" Hope made some steps towards the inferno to have a better view. "What the hell happenend?"

Sazh broke the silence. "Well, I guess you have to ask her."

Meanwhile Lightning leaned against the car and rested her head on it's roof. Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed the hot sunlight. _I am soo not in the mood for this shit. I give them five more seconds._

Hope of course popped the big question. "So Light, you did this?" He smiled still observing the burning store. "Had to wait too long to get served, eh?" _Always so impatient this girl._

_That's it. _Her eyes opened all of a sudden. She gave him a devastating look as she approached him. Hope had to look twice to see her coming up to him. He blenched. _Oh holy fal'cie. What have I done? _He knew this meant trouble. _Oh oh, I know that look. She has to be pissed…but she still looks sooo gorgeous and adorable. There is definetely something about her when she is furious. Oh man, how can you even think about something like that in this situation?_

He took a few steps back. "Now, please Light. I…I'm sorry but we really don't want to do anything we are going to regret later, yeah?." No success. _Oh god, oh god._ He already protected his face with his hands. "I'm sorry Light but please don't hit me. Please don't hit me. I'm so sorry…I didn't mean it." _Then again, I think she could hit me. I mean...it's her. It's Light. She can do anything to me. God, what kind of freak am I? I'm about to get beaten up any second._

He waited for the impact. And waited. And waited. Nothing happened. He slowly spread his fingers and tried to take a glimpse. She just stood in front of him, her arms folded over her chest. She glanced over to Sazh. "I really don't have time for this nonsense.", she said.

She then lifted Hope up onto her shoulder and carried him to the car.

_Damn, guess I dodged a bullet there._ While he passed the time on her shoulder he admired Lightnings strength and sweet muscels again and again. Especially her arms. _She really has some power in her arms._ He couldn't stop himself as he fondled her right arm slowly. _Ah, so soft._ _Can it get any better than this?_ "HOPE!!" He had to giggle. _I bet she liked it. Seriously, what is wrong with me today?._ Lightning sighed. "Is everyone here a mental case?" She glanzed over at Sazh.

"Sazh...the door!" Sazh followed the order. Lightning threw the little boy on the backseat. She leaned over to him and pointed her finger in his direction. "Now will you be a good boy, Hope?" _Anything for you._ "Yes, yes Light. I swear. I'll be good." She smiled. "Well I seriously hope so or it is the trunk again." He swallowed. _No way in hell am I going back there._

Lightning sat herself on the co-driver's seat. Sazh was already in his position. He started the engine. He looked at Lightning. "What now? We still need supplies." She sighed. "Just drive already." As they drove off Hope watched as the rest of the store collapsed. He then leaned forward to the others. "Now seriously you two. Why is the store burning down when you just wanted to buy some potions?"


	2. The convenience store

**A/N: Hey guys. So here we are back for Round 2 with the 1st part of the flashback.**

**Sorry for bad grammar occasionally and plz bear with me.**

**And please review (thx Ralf^^)**

Chapter 2

About 40 minutes ago.

Sazh looked out of the car as he turned off the engine. "So this is the place, eh?"

"Yeah Sazh, I know. This place is not really around the corner but at least the possibility of being recognized here is much lower." _Do I really have to explain this?_

_Hope she's right with her assumption._ "I still don't like it." He was nervous and sweated slightly. "You know, I really hate to do this." _Why did I lend myself to this anyway? Guess I'd rather be in the trunk right now. I should take care of the girls now and not Snow who is busy looking at the mirror all the time.  
_

"I don't like it either but times have changed." She took a deep breath.

"It worked so well with those online-shops. You know…no unnecessary waiting time. No walking around. Just pushing some buttons and that was it." He frowned. "God damn, it was so easy. Why were they all disposed, anyway?"

"Get over it, Sazh!" _Already have enough problems with this myself._

"No, really. What was the problem Light?"

"I don't really know, Sazh. Guess people just didn't like the system. Maybe they felt insecure or they missed talking to the owner to get information they didn't even need in the first place."

Sazh shook his head in despair. Lightning could see the bitterness in his eyes. H_e won't crack on me now, will he?_

"Listen Sazh…hey, c'mon." She put her hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly. "I need you here with me."

He looked at her and gave her a brief smile. "Yeah, yeah. I'm here."

"Good to know." _Hope he's gonna hold up._ "We have to be careful." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Now…I know we haven't done this in a long time and nowadays, that we are some kind of celebrities, we need to watch over ourselfs more then ever."

Sazh released a sharp breath. "You're right. I won't let you down."

_Glad we got that out of the way._ Lightning looked at the store. "Ok. So I see just one car parked in front of the store."

"The shopkeepers?", Sazh asked.

"Hmm, maybe. Could also be a customer." She took her gunblade from under her seat and loaded it with a new clip. "But we can handle this."

Sazh stared at the weapon. "Really, Lightning. You have to let me use this beast once in a while."

"Tzh…you couldn't handle that much heat anyway and probably would chop off some more or less important parts of your body." She bend down to tighten her boots.

"That's a nasty thing to say." He went back to observe the store. "So…what about Hope?"

"Well, what about him?" She leaned back.

"Was it really necessary to put him in the trunk?"

"After what he did?"

"I'm sure he didn't want to be mean or importunate." He cleared his throat. "I mean…he is still a little kid but he has very strong feelings for you. I don't know…guess you're like a big sister to him."

"Well…would you do something like this to your sister?…And I'm not his sister but still…this wasn't right."

He couldn't avoid the thought. _If YOU were…oh god. What am I thinking? _"Of course not."

"See. He went just too far and he also wouldn't stop. I have absolutely no idea what was wrong with that kid. C'mon Sazh, you were there!" _Seriously…what was wrong with this kid? Scared the hell out of me but…ah…don't try to think about it now._

"Actually…I didn't see anything." _Maybe_ _just a little bit…_

"Tz…whatever. I will have a conversation with him when this is over."

"Just don't be too hard on him, ok?" _That sounded quiet funny._

"You really got some problems, you know that?…C'mon, let's go."

Both exited the car. The sun burned down on them. Sazh took off his green jacket and threw it on his seat.

"What are you doing?"

"What?" He shrugged his shoulders. "It's hot as hell with this thing and I can't wear a revealing outfit like yours…and I think my jacket is too noticeable anyway. I mean…who wears green nowadays?"

She tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean with revealing? Are you checking me out or what?" _Is my outfit really too much? But I like it so bad._ "And then…you really should do something about your hair. I mean…it's way too conspicuous. Want any help while we're at it?"

"Hell no. You crazy?" He sneered. „Besides…you really want to have a conversation now about the peculiarity of our hair?"

„Uh..." She looked to the ground and thought about her long, shining, pink hair._ Damnit…_g_uess he has a point this time. _"Ah, just shup up already."

"Gotcha…" He smiled. _She can't win all the times._

"In return…get my coat from the trunk and don't forget the bags."

"In this heat?"

"Well… I'm still confident that there will be an air conditioner in this place and I just can't stick my "gun" into my pants like you can and hide it with my shirt."

"Ah I see…so the big toys aren't always the best eh?" He smirked. "Well…my pleasure!"

"You're just too nice. I wait here."

_Irony at it's best._ Sazh went to the back of the car and opened the trunk. Hope lay there with his eyes closed. "Hey little man." Sazh leaned over. "Everything all right in there?"

"Go to hell."

Sazh took a deep breath. "Look Hope. I'm just trying to help. I know that she didn't want to be mean." _How do I put this?_ "You just caught her in an inappropriate moment."

Hope opened his eyes and stared at him. "But how could she do this to me? I thought we had a connection there." He rose his voice.

"Ssh…not so loud. She might hear you." He took the coat and the bags and put them over his arm. "Well…you…you really couldn't control yourself back there, Hope."

Hope had to control his anger. "But I…" _Calm down Hope! If you ever want to get out of this…stay calm._ He sighed. "You…you're right, Sazh. I really don't know what my problem was. Somehow I just had the urge…I'm sorry." He turned his back to him. "Just leave me alone!"

"C'mon, little man. Take it easy." No reaction. "Don't worry. We'll be back in a couple of minutes and I'll force her to let you out then." He blinked with one eye.

"You know, Sazh. I like you…don't do this."

_What does he mean with this statement?_

"What's taking so long back there?" Anger went along with her voice.

"Got it." He took a last glance at Hope while he shut the trunk. _Poor guy but what can I do? There would be enough space for Hope and my humble self and I wouldn't survive three breaths in there. _

Sazh gave Lightning her coat.

"Finally…thought you got lost."

"I happened to run into Hope back there, you know. He said he was sorry."

"Tz…he should be but I'll deal with him later."

Lightning put on her coat and nodded. They marched on. She kept looking around. "Before I forget. We go in, get the stuff and leave. All right? No one-man-show in there. Stay cool, you hear me?"

"What? You should tell that to yourself. I'm not the one with the shoot-them-all attitude."

_C'mon, that's not true. _"Don't you worry about me."

As they approached the entrance Sazh looked at his watch nervously. He took a deep breath.

"Relax, Sazh. What's the worst thing to happen? Running out of gil? We've already been there a couple of times."

"Well…yeah…but they could also recognize us and…like…kill us."

"Why do you always have to be so pessimistic?" _Even I am not this pessimistic right now._ "Couldn't you inherit some of Vanilles attitude during your little adventure at the Sunleth Waterscape?"

"Well…there wasn't really the time with all the monsters and…."He blushed lightly.

They reached the front door. "Oh spare me!" She took a glance through the front door. "Now, do not forget! Low profile!"

_Did she just say something?_ Sazh opened the door. „After you, my lady."

"Don't push it." She entered. _Now I'm scared._ _This will end bad. I just know it._

It was rather dark inside the store. The sunlight could just light up the front part of the area and most of the lights didn't seem to work in the rear. Other than that, everything was overseeable. No customers fiddled around. Just two figures were present. The young guy behind the counter clearly was the owner, although still young. His yellow hair attracted Sazhs attention immediately. _Now that is freaky. Tz, yellow hair? Just like Snow but at least he wears a cap almost all the time. Actually, I've never seen him without the cap. Does he even go into the shower with this thing?  
_

The owner glanced at them. He then had a quick look at his conversational partner and nodded towards Sazh and Lightning. The other guy turned around. He was older than the Snow look-alike but still in his mid-thirties.

"Oh…howdy." He took off his cowboy hat and took a nearly unrecognizable bow.

_Is this always how they greet you in places like this?_ "…what's up?" Sazh couldn't think of anything better. _But this hat has some style. Definitely could picture myself with that. _

He was punched in his ribs by Lightning. "Be quiet!", she whispered.

They went off to the small beverage section in the rear part and started their search for supplies. They could hear as the conversation of the two men continued.

"…so…pretty hot day today, right?" The man with the cowboy hat loosened his collar a bit.

"Yeah, tell me about it. I already toyed with the idea of closing the store for the day or even the entire damn week. With this heat, I'm really afraid this thing is gonna end up burning down. And that would suck hard man."

"Indeed it would." He took his glass and poured the blue substance down his throat. "Oh man…I need something strong now. Lou, give me another one of these Heroic Cocktails, will ya?"

"Are you desperately trying to hit something today? Besides the counter here which is bound to happen if you continue to drink this shit! You know this stuff will kill you eventually, right?"

"Go figure! Give me two!"

_Hmm, I could also use one of these now._ Sazh browsed though the bottles and took out the desired one. _Take it. Drink it. Feel it. __Hit it. Forget it. There is definitely some truth in this slogan. Ah yeah...good old times.  
_

"Put it away!" _I see everything, Sazh._

"But I really…"

"I said no! We don't have the money or the time for this stuff."

"Hmrpf…" He put the bottle back into the shelf unwillingly. _Guess you could use one of these more than I do._

Back at the counter the two men rose their glasses.

"You know, Lou. Maybe I haven't told you before but you're all right…you know that?"

"Uhm…thanks I guess." He looked at him surprised. "Sure you're all right, Archie? You seem a little bit off today."

"Ah what the hell. Guess it's just one of those days, you know. Woke up this morning and still couldn't get the taste out of that chocobo hip I ate the other day."

"Holy...you ate chocobo?"

"Made me go weak on my knees as I woke up today. Glad I woke up in the bathroom somehow. This would have been a big mess."

"Now that's kinda sick man."

"You bet. And this condition just won't wear off. I tell you...never eat this stuff and pop some X while you're at it."

"You mean this Freedom shit?"

"Hell, yeah. Supposed to give you a quiet night but with this chocobo stuff in the mix...just hardcore man."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear this…" He leaned over to him and whispered "…but I think we can do something about it, right?"

"Yeah…sure as hell we can." He yawned. "All right Lou, I'm gonna take a leak. I'm about to burst down there and when I come back, these glasses better be refilled." He stood up and headed for the rest room. Lightning and Sazh were still gathering the supplies and didn't notice his suspicious glance when he passed them.

_All right, this should do the trick._ Lightning put the last bottle into the bag. _Let's get out of here…quiet and fast._ She gave Sazh a signal. It was time to leave.

Lou was reading a newspaper while they approached him. Sazh put the two bags on the counter as Lightning observed the store again. _What a mess this place._

"Whoa…I see you are in desperate need of this stuff." Lightning payed no attention, still looking around. Sazh could hardly get a smile out. He rubbed the back of his head. "So…you two are on a journey through, I guess?"

_Damnit. Why does he have to ask all these questions?_ "Yeah…you could say that." He looked at Lightning but she seemed to be lost in thought.

"Well, I'm glad you took this route. Not many customers around these days."

"Business is bad?" _How long do I have to keep this up?_

Meanwhile Lightning looked through one of the windows to look at their car. _I better had taken Hope with me._

"Bad?…Business is like shit recently!" He started to count the bottles. "You know, I'm not that up-to-date with all this stuff but I think this has to do with the l'Cie thing. People are scared to leave the house."

Lightning smirked. _As if they prefered to buy something in this dump anyway._

"…so of course there is no traffic around here and with no traffic, no customers and no customers, no money and with..."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." _C'mon Light, help me here, damnit!_

"Well anyway. Glad to see some customers still have some balls or…something else." He glanced at Lightning. "So you said you were on a journey through. Were are you headed?"

Sazh got more and more nervous. This guy kept asking question after question and also wouldn't stop looking at Lightning. _Hmm. _Something wasn't right about this. This guy literally observed her from top to bottom as she walked around, looking at some items. Sazh didn't take his eyes off of the guy. _Is he just eyeballing Lightning?_

"Uhm…you know…" _Should I say something?_

Sazh saw the piercing looking eyes of the yellow-haired guy who just didn't want to stop staring at the strawberry-blonde. Slowly his right hand disappeared under the counter. _What the…? Son of a bitch!_

Sazh pulled out one of his guns promptly. "Don't even think about it!" He nearly screamed.

Lightning turned around immediately. "What the…?"

"Don't you move one inch." Sazh took out the other gun.

Lou immediately put his hands in front of him. "Hey man…whoa…hold right there…easy man."

Lightning moved forward. _You gotta be kidding me._ "Easy Sazh...what the hell are you doing?"

"I…I saw the way he looked at you!"

"The way he what…?"

"Yes right. The way he looked at you. I knew immediately. He recognized you!"

Lou found the courage to speak. "Recognized? How can you…? Just the way I watched her?"

Lightning rose her eyebrows. "Watched?"

"Yes…from the buttom up and…and he had that glance."

"C'mon man! I haven't…it's just…." Lou tried to explain the best he could. "I mean…after all this time, sitting in this shithole and dealing with all kinds of riffraff...there enters a hot chick and…"

Sazh had to laugh. "Yeah, yeah, sure...hot chick."

Lightning looked at him. "Now what is that supposed to mean?"

_Oops...guess that came out wrong. Of course she is an eye-catcher but…FOCUS!_ "No…I mean…you know…like…"

Lightning intervined. "Ok, I think we should all calm down so that noone will get hurt, ok?"

"I certainly AM calm." Lou was shaking like a leaf. "Say that to your friend with his trigger finger."

"Sazh…"

"No Light. The way he looked at you. I just knew. And he also wanted to get something under the counter. Probably a gun."

"What?...I have no fucking gun down there. I just wanted to scratch myself because I get itchy when I'm scared shitless."

"Yeah sure you did!…Lightning…just go see for yourself."

Suddenly a hand aroused from the back and grabbed his jaw. Cold steal pressed against his neck. "Noone is going to do shit in here!" Archie with his cowboy hat entered the arena and held Sazh at gunpoint. He then focused on Lightning. "Ok, sweetheart. I guess you should take a couple of steps back." He exhaled. "And take off your damn coat!"

_This isn't just happening. This just isn't…FUCK NO!!!_ Lightning was moments away from imploding. She shook full of rage. _How could I forget about this guy?_

"Ah…please don't be a poor sport. Hate this to get ugly…now do it!"

Lightning stayed in position. _All right…stay calm. With the gun still in the holster it just takes to long to go for a headshot. I have to lure him away from Sazh._ _Provocation could help._ "Do it yourself!"

"Wow…really kinky." He smirked. "I like that…but…" He cocked his gun. "…I won't ask you again…" He directed his voice to Sazh. "…and you should already drop your guns, big guy."

Sazh obeyed unwillingly. He looked at Lightning who still wouldn't move. _Hope she's got a plan back there. _Steel pressed harder against his neck.

"Well…I'm counting down from one. If the coat isn't on the floor then…sure as hell you're friend will be."

She looked at him. He shook clearly. "Light…" He couldn't get more words out.

"Damnit!" _Those guys are freaking serious._ She took a few steps back and slowly undressed.

"My my…now what do we have here?…Lou!"

He understood and approached Lightning immediately. "Hands behind your head, sugar!" She did it slowly while he took her gunblade out of the holster. "Yeah, so this is how it looks at close range, eh? Feels awesome." He waved around with it. "So how does this shit work anyway?"

_Noone touches my baby and gets away with it._ "Sorry, the user's guide is still in the car."

Moments later, she felt a thump against the back of her head and pain and exhaustion spread out. As she fell down on the ground slowly, she took a last glance at Sazh before everyhing went dark.


	3. The dark party

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. Couple of exams at the moment so there wasn't really much time. But I decided to split the chapter so I could at least post something in the meantime^^**

**Here we go...**

Chapter 3

„You know, Light...I..." He seemed unable to find the right words. _Man, why is this so hard?_

"What is it, Hope?"

"Well…I…I thought about everything that happened as of late and…you know that I like you very much, right?" Hope couldn't get rid of the lump in his throat. _This is going to be an epic fail._

_Aw, he's so sweet._ Lightning gave him a warm smile. "I know, Hope." She jabbed him in his ribs. "And you know that I like you, too."

Sazh looked over his shoulder, still keeping an eye on the street. "Hey…I hope you also have some love for me, too."

"Yeah, yeah Sazh.", Lightning grinned. Her focus still on the little boy.

_Do I smell some irony here?_

Hope's breathing got heavier and sweat ensheathed his body. He looked deep into her eyes. "So Light…it's just that…" Suddenly he put his hand on her leg. _Holy, what are you doing, Hope?_

Lightning didn't pay much attention to Hope's move as she was more focused on finding out what bothered him. _There has to be something else._ Meanwhile, Hope started to fondle her thigh soflty, as he found the courage to speak.

Sazh looked through the driving mirror. _Holy, what is he doing now?_ Sazh had to take a closer look. _Is that the reason he wanted her to sit with him in the back-seat to… _The realization hit him hard._ Oh crap! This is going to end bad!_

"Soo…anyway…" Hope moved slowly up her tigh with his hand.

_All right. Something is soo wrong here. _"Hope…" He didn't stop. "Hope…where are you going with your hand?" She pushed his hand aside and sat herself straight.

„I have to tell you, Light..."

_What is wrong with him? Is it about the…? _"Don't you worry, Hope. We'll do it. There is always a first time." _Shouldn't be that much problems in buying some stuff at a store, right?_

_Holy, did she really just said that?_ He worked up his entire courage. "I want to tell you, Light. I…I think I'm in love with you."

Lightning couldn't react in time as Hope's lips pressed against hers. She blushed and froze completely. Suddenly she felt an acute pain on her jaw. _What the hell?_ And another one. _Hope…just stop already._ She tried to stop him but she couldn't move.

Suddenly her eyes shot open. _What the hell was this?_ A man stood in front of her and she could just vaguely identify the fist which was about to hit her. BAM.

The man took a few steps back and shook his hand. "Damn man…this girl is really robust!"

With her head tilted on the side, she tried to collect her thoughts. _Hope! What the…_ Her vision slowly returned and she recognized a desk with all kinds of tools and other utensils. _Where am I?_

"Oh I think she's about to regain consciousness. About freaking time!"

_Ah, my head is killing me._ She turned her head slowly into the direction the voices came from.

_I know these guys. _She looked at the figures and everything stroke back. She came to recognize them as those bastards from the store.

"Hey, sunshine. Nice from you to join us." They giggled.

Afflicted by the pain, she wanted to exhale but couldn't as her mouth was gagged with some kind of adhesive tape. _Damnit, what the…_ She also tried to move but no chance. She was handcuffed to the chair she sat on ,her hands behind her back.

"Hey, Light!"

She recognized this voice. She turned in it's direction. It was Sazh! _Glad he's still alive. _Although he looked also beaten up. But it was good to see him.

„You're all right, baby?"

_Baby? Ah, what the hell._ The pain was heavy but she nodded slightly. Her thoughts wandered around. She had to think about Hope. _God, is he still in the trunk or did they search through it?_ _How long have I been out, anyway?_ She tried to find a watch somewhere but she was unsuccessful. _How long? 10 minutes? Half an hour?_ She glanzed at a small window in the back. Still sunlight.

"Soo…now that everyone gathered around…" Both men looked at each other. "Let the show begin!" Archie, still with his cowboy hat, clapped his hands.

Lou marched on to the table and browsed through the hacksaws, knifes, axes, chainsaws and swords. Lightning glanzed at him. _My sword!_

"Hey fellas. What is this shit all about?" Sazh broke the silence. "What do you want from us?"

Archie approached him slowly and bend forward to look him straight into his eyes. "You're really not the smartest, are you? We know you're those l'Cie guys and we know you murdered a couple of our friends back in Palumpolum. And now…it's payback time."

"What? Do you even know what happened there?"

Archie sighed. "Man, you're really starting to piss me off with all those questions. Lou, where's the fucking tape?"

"Ah shit. Still up in the store."

"I just knew it." He glanzed at him. "Think you can hold the position while I'm gone?"

"Yeah...I'm confident."

„Moron", Archie whispered as he went up the stairs.

_We need to get out of here right know._ Lightning tried to get her hands out of her bonds. _Damnit! This will last forever._ She looked at Sazh.

Her glanze was self-explanatory. Sazh knew what she was thinking._ Of course we have to get the hell out of her but how?_ He looked around.

_This is no use. This won't get us far. No wait! Of course!...Tz...why do I always have to forget him? Odin!_ But her enjoyment went down the drain as soon as she reminded herself that she hadn't the ability to speak. So without her voice, her Eidolon wouldn't show up. _Surely, these guys know of our possibility to summen Eidolons. _She glanzed at Sazh_. Hmm...but they didn't tape him! Maybe they don't know shit! So he could summon his little Transformer. _She sighed. _Of course he couldn't think of that himself. Man, he is even as useless as Snow. Aargh!_

Lightning tried to atrract Sazhs attention. She moaned quietly. He reacted and leaned towards her. _What is it?_ He looked at her but she was just changing eye-contact between him and his chest. Lightning tilted her head into it's direction several times.

_The hell?_ Sazh was confused. _I know I'm in good shape for my age but…maybe she is loosing it._

Her moans got louder. _This is getting ridiculos. He doesn't get it._ She looked back at Lou who still browsed through the weapons on the table. He didn't pay attention.

She turned back at Sazh. _Man is he dense! This won't work. Ok, think of antoher way. We don't have much time left. Ok…so his Eidolon is a car. Hmm…a car. That's it. _This would be a moment, she would recommend him warmly never to tell a living soul._ Oh god, this will be so emberassing. But he will pay for this later anyway. _She slowly started to imitate the sound of a car which is about to start up. _Oh god, just kill me now. C'mon you fool._

_What? Is this the sound of a car? _He looked at her astonished. _What is wrong with her?…_ _Oh shit. Guess she means Hope and that he is still in the car. Yeah, she must feel terrible now for putting him in there_. He tried to calm her down. "Don't worry, Light! We get out of here! Everything will be all right."

_Nooo, you idiot! God, does he do that on porpuse?_ She continued.

_Damn man. Guess she got too many hits back there. __What is her problem with...?_ Finaly he got the hint. _How could I be so stupid? Of course…she means my Eidolon_. He looked around. The room wasn't that big. Sure as hell it would get uncomfortable once his Eidolon would show up. He nodded to Lightning. "Got it", he whispered.

_Thank the Lord_. She turned to Lou. _As soon as we get out of here and you're unlucky to be alive, you're ass is mine. _

_Ok, so here we go._ Sazh cleared his throat. _Hold on…!_ Suddenly he freaked out. _Oh no....no no no_. He looked at Lightning, who still watched Lou. _Oh god_. He looked around terrified. _Think man, think. It's not that hard. It…it was something with a B._ "Yes." He was reliefed. "Brunhilda!".

_Never thought his Eidolon sounded so weird._ _Thought there was somewhere an "r" at the end._ Lightning made herself ready for the upcoming destruction of the building, once his Eidolon would burst through. She was completely fixed on Lou. _Oh you're so dead._ 5 seconds passed but nothing happened.

Lou turned around. "Haha…what the hell did you just say?"

Sazh was about to drown in nervousness. _Oh damn….goddamn…_ His eyes wouldn't stop wandering around the room. _Think, you old bastard_. He tried again. "Brunnhild".

„What the hell?"

_Now that was definitely another name_. Lightning stopped breathing. _NO WAY! Oh god...please no!_ She turned to Sazh and looked at him. He started to sweat heavily. Beads of perspiration dripped from his chin. _Please don't tell me you don't know your Eidolons freaking name!_ _You gotta be shitting me._

Sazh knew he run out of options. _Shit, shit, shit. C'mon man...think...you're close._

"Hey, archie. Move your ass, man. This guy here is giving me the creeps."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on my way."

_Oh hell no. This guy'll be down here any minute._ Sazh focused as strong as he could. He raced through their entire journey in his mind. _C'mon...I used it one time._..yes, _I got it. I fucking got it._ Completely reliefed he slumped down on his chair. „Bryanhild". The nail-biter was finally over. _Uff, now that was close. Now go and get them, my dear._

Archie arrived with the tape. "All right, Mister Big. Time to shut the fuck up!" Sazh was silenced.

At the same time Lightning dropped her head in shame. _This is my punishment for bringing him along. Yes Lightning, you are going to die in here because of his stupidity and his incapability of summoning his girlfriend_. And t_o think that I was the one to pick this place._ She couldn't avoid to smile.


	4. The dark party: Part II

**A/N: Hellooo everybody. Again I'm sorry for the delay but the last couple of days were kind of stressful and time was a pain in the ass, but better late than never...I hope^^**

**Thanks very much for all the reviews so far. About Ralfs comment regarding a possible HopexLightning "pairing" or a focus on those characters. I really feel that there is certain bond between them, although in my opinion it is one-sided in that "love regard", cause Lightning sees him as a little brother in my eyes. But they have the talk in the next chapter^^. So I wanted this story to be about the entire gang, as they are on the run. This story opened with Lightning and Sazh, and these two will still be my main focus character wise, but I really don't want to disregard the other characters too much, because every single one of them is great imho.^^**

**So now, that this should be the last part of the intro, we can finally concetrate on the main storyline...took longer than expected and maybe didn't turn out that well as I hoped in the end but it will get better as time goes on. Have faith :D  
**

**So far...hope you still enjoy it^^**

Chapter 4

Sazh was nearly at the end of his tether after all the stresses and strains. He slowly noticed, that his Eidolon hadn't shown up…again. _Oh boy... to be off base once; that maybe can happen. To screw up twice…well, you can get excused on a really, really good day but three times?_ He gasped heavily. _Guess it won't matter if we can get out of here. At least I wouldn't have to worry. Lightning would kill me or probably break my legs, anyway_. Exhausted, he glanced at her. She was still looking at the floor. _I'm so sorry, Lightning._

"Shit Archie! What the hell took you so long? What did you do up there?"

"Did you shit bricks, or what? It took me ages to find that stupid tape and by the way…my eyes caught their car just over the road. So I thought a quick checkup wouldn't hurt."

"Wow. Now that should be a cracker!"

"Yeah, yeah…save it. But you better look at what I found there!" Lou turned around.

_Oh hell no! _Lightnings eyes widened and her blood ran cold. _Hope! __Shit, they found him_. She looked up slowly, in her imagination already seeing the little kid being carried on the shoulders of that bastard.

„C'mon, Arch. That's just disgusting!"

„You don't know shit, fool. This jacket has some style."

„Not really. Who wears green this days, anyway?" He returned to the table.

„Say whatever you want, Lou!" He looked at Sazh and smirked. "I think he won't need it anymore."

_Just wait until I shoot that smirk of yours out of your face. And what is the big deal with my jacket anyway?_

"Oh well…there wasn't anything of interest in this car otherwise. The trunk was locked but I think we are going to take a closer look, when we're done here, yeah?." Archie threw the jacket on a chest right behind Sazhs chair. "Oh and before I forget. Jeremy, that old bastard, and four of his so-called buddies arrived couple of moments ago. I met them just outside. I told them we were closed because of our guests and he actually asked if they could join us for this little session. Guess there shouldn't be any problems when they join us, right?"

Lightning exhaled full of relief. _Thank god. Ok…so the good news is that Hope is still in there. But now we have to deal with more of these assholes. We have to get out of here now!_

"Jeremy, eh? Yeah, yeah. Whatever. As long as they pay. Where are they now?"

"Still at the counter. Getting themselves some drinks I guess. They'll be down here in a few."

Hope opened his eyes slowly, as he yawned. Completely tense, he tried to stretch. But his undertaking ceased suddenly, as he came up against opposition with his extremities. _What the…? Oh crap!_ He discovered that he was still in the trunk. He yawned again. _Oh man…is this possible? Guess I fell asleep somehow_. He turned around to lay on his back and looked into the darkness. _What time is it, anyway?_ He activated the 3D projection on his watch. _Nearly 4 p.m.! Holy! What's taking them so long? They are gone for over half an hour already. _

He knocked against the trunk. "Hello? Light? Sazh? You out there?" _Hmm…the car isn't moving. So we are still there. Or are we already back and they left me here on purpose? Damnit…how can they be so mean? Wait! Or maybe something happened to them? _His little heart started to race_. Of course! They are probably in some deep trouble und they need my help. I have to get out of here and help them._

He pressed both his legs with full power against the bottom side of the trunk lid. _C'mon man…a little more strengh._ But it didn't give in. He started to kick against it. _Ah man…this is no use. This won't do it._ He smote his forehead._ And I can't even cast some freaking magic spells, because I was so focused in becoming the greatest medic and synergist all all times. Only thing I have is that stupid water spell. Free water for life...yay. But hold on…!...Where is it?_ He felt around for his preferred weapon, his Boomerang. _Ah, there it is. Okay…I can't throw it around in this tiny space but when I smack with it against the lock, it has to give in after a while._ He illuminated his target with his watch. _Soo, I guess the lock should be around there somewhere._ He started to hit against his target. _Yes, that's it._ He could see that it already began to crumble.

The projection of his watch disappeared but he didn't care. _Can't press that stupid button all the time. I know where my target is._ He kept hitting. _Don't worry, guys…I come and save you even if it's the last thing… _After his fifth attempt to break the lock, he heard a strange clicking noise. _Hmm…? _He also noticed that his weapon was much lighter somehow. He fell silent. _This is a joke now, right?_ He could feel the broken parts of his former weapon spread over his chest. _That's just…_ He started to shake and looked around in agony. _HHEELLPP!_

Lightning thought about her last conversation with Hope they had in the car. She remembered how he threw himself at her and how he ended up in the trunk shortly after. _My god…what was I thinking? He's just 14 years old. He probably didn't even know what he was talking about. Yeah, but his actions really showed a different story. What the hell came over him?_

„Okay fellas. So let's begin!" Lou slowly approached Lightning. He kneeled down in front of her and rested his arms on her legs.

Feeling heavily disgusted, she turned away. _Oh gros! __Get that thing out of my face!_

„Stay calm, girl. We're just enjoying ourselfs a little bit."

_Don't you dare touching me with those tentacled hands of yours._ She threw an angry look at Sazh. _Oh, you're so going to regret this._

„You know. We had a lot of people down there in all those times. But we have yet to come across one of these l'Cie things. And especially a hottie like you. So don't get me wrong, but…" He took his knife and wandered around her tigh with it. "…can it get any better?"

The knifes cold steel made her cringe slightly. Lightning still didn't look at him.

"So the occation here is pretty special." He stood up and turned away from her. "Jo, Arch. Better watch her friend closely while I'm untying her. Don't want her to get some crazy ideas."

"Yeah, yeah." Archie, who had leaned against the table, held one of Sazhs guns in his hand. "You know…these things aren't really that bad." He walked to Sazh. "They lay well in your hand. Guess I'll hang them above my bed." He placed himself right in front of Sazh and pointed the gun at his crotch. Sazh had to swallow.

Lou opened Lightnings handcuffs behind her back in the meantime. _Damnit! __Now would be the perfect time to overwhelm him. But I guess I wouldn't reach Sazh in time to maintain the possibility for him to stay reproductive._

„C'mon..." Lightning was dragged on her feet. Moments later, she found herself in handcuffs again. Lou then took her to the table. "See something you like?"

_What?_ She glanced at her gunblade, which was just a couple of inches away from her right hand. _Not even two seconds and that son-of-a-bitch wouldn't stand anymore. _

„Yes...you're right. It's all crap!" He drove with his arm through all the weapons and threw them onto the ground. "Now we have more space."

_If there is even the slightest scratch, then…no…you're going to suffer anyway._

Lou grabbed Lightning on her hip and sat her on the table. "So…now don't try anything stupid or your friend is going to feel a lot of pain."

_Bastard!_ She boiled with rage. Again, she toyed with the idea to kill him instantly and put everything else on luck concerning Sazhs disposition. _Damn…Sazh with that stupid gun pointed at him…hmm, I mean…but he'd still live though. _She glanced at Sazh._ What the hell…? Now finally, someone is thinking. But I still have to get that shitty tape out of my face. _She moved her hands to her mouth to take off the tape.

"Hey, hey. What you think you're doing? Take it easy!" He pushed her hands back onto the table. "We want to have fun and you even know what's best?"

_Yes, your face in 5 minutes._

„...after this…it's their turn."

_Okay, I've had it. __Fuck this! Let's see how you can handle that heat really. God…this will be a disaster. Move it, Sazh!  
_

She ripped the tape off her mouth, pulled him to her and pressed her lips against his.

_Hot damn!_ Sazh observed the spectacle. _What the hell is she doing now? _

Archie smirked the whole time. "Yeah, Lou. I knew noone could resist your charme."

Sazh got extremely warm inside. _Oh my…Ok, focus! She's just trying to get their attention so I can kick his ass. _Seconds before, Sazh had cast a weakend ice spell on his handcuffs. _C'mon…just a couple more seconds until I can break the chain._ He continued to press his index finger against it. He still looked at Lightning. _Holy…she knows what she is doing. I've never seen her like this. Guess all this shit was worth it after all._

Meanwhile, Lightning put her arms around Lous body and pressed him further against her. She looked at both the other guys over his shoulder. _Okay, this should buy a little time…uugh…think I'm gonna throw up…but at least I got, of course, BOTH their attention. Damnit…how long do you need Sazh? _

"All right guys. We're coming down! Hope there will be some action."

_Shit! Damnit, Sazh…slow old man_. Lightning leaned forward so she could whisper into Lous ear. "You know...you just fucked with the wrong girl." She grabbed his neck as fast as her name would suggest and pressed against his airway. His eyes closed in an instant. She grabbed his knife immediately and threw it at Archie right into his forehead, between his eyes. He shrugged a little. As he slowly fell onto the ground, the gun in his hand went off and the bullet hit Sazhs chair, just inches in front of his sanctum.

"WOAH…damn, girl!"

"Hey, hey, hey. What the hell is going on down there? Don't start without us."

_Shit! _Sazh, whose ice spell finally worked, teared the chain apart. He took his guns from Archies dead body and ran to Lightning, who already knocked over the table and hid behind it. Sazh joined her. "Woah…so that was…that was…" _Oh my god..._

"Yeah…I know."

"Ok…so we have 5 guys coming down, probably fully loaded."

"Yeah…guess you better watch your ears now. This'll get loud."

"Say what?"

"Odin!"

"Ah…not the horse. We'll get buried."

It didn't take five seconds and the day outside turned into a thunder-storm. The other guys appeared in the basement at the same time.

"Holy shit!"

Everything began to vibrate and the plaster was falling of the wall. A hollow detonation emerged out above the basement. Everybody looked surprised in the direction of the sound. Suddenly the ceiling burst open and before they could even react in time, the 10 foot high beast rose in front of them.

"What the shit?" Completely frozen, they stared at the creature.

Lightning and Sazh still hid behind the table.

"Oh you're nasty, Light. We could have handled them."

"Yeah and you would be the first to catch a bullet. Playtime, Odin!"

Odin slowly made a couple of steps towards the men.

"Oh my god. What are you waiting for? Shoot it!"

They opened fire, but the bullets just bounced off their target. Odin used his detachable sword and dissipated half of the men with it's sweeping blow. Two of the survivors immediately ran up the stairs. The other one fell onto the ground and pushed himself back until he was stopped by the wall.

"Oh no…please don't." He saw as Odin striked out, before everything went dark.

"Let nobody escape! We're fine down here. Thanks for the help."

Odin turned around and disappeared through the big hole he came through. They could hear a lot of screams in the background accompanied by the sound of shelves being adjusted.

Still behind their barricade, Sazh looked at Lighting. "Damn…by a hair I...I wouldn't have anything left down there."

"What…you're going to complain now?"

"I…I just want to say that you took a heavy risk with that action…but I had a plan, you know?"

"Yeah…it just took a little too long."

"Well…at least I though of it."

"Thought of…? Are you saying…? I guess Odin isn't quite finished down here."

"What?…No no…I didn't…"

"We'll talk about this later." She stood up. "C'mon…help me with this guy."

"Why? And by the way…it was awesome how fluid you broke his neck. Just one tiny, little move and…snap!"

"Well…sorry to disappoint you but he isn't dead yet."

"No? So what are you up to?" _Oh my...she still has this look in her eyes. She is still boiling._

"I'm gonna need one of these chainsaws."


	5. A new destination

**A/N: Good evening, everybody. So now that we have the intro behind us, we can finally concentrate on the development of the main plot^^. So without further delay. I present you the next chapter.**

Chapter 5

„Oh my god! Light, you did what?" Hope leaned back at the back seat. _This is…she really would pull off something like this? With a chainsaw?_

Sazh looked back over his shoulder, as he glanced at Hope. "I know, right? I tell you, man. I thought she completely lost it back there."

_Yeah, yeah…big deal._ Lightning looked at him. "Lost it? Do you have any idea what they would have done to me…to us? Sure as hell we couldn't spare him!"

"Well…at least I'm glad that it had no fuel. What did you want to do with it, anyway?"

Lightning didn't answer. _This question isn't worth being answered._

Sazh answered the question himself. _No...that's just wrong. Lightning would never do that!_ "So what did you mean with the "to us" comment? Don't tell me you think, that…"

"Oh yeah, Sazh. Didn't you see the look in that guys eyes when he pointed the gun at your little friend?"

_This is just too sick._ Hope grabbed the drivers seat and pulled himself into Sazhs direction. "Oh no! They wanted to kill the chocobo?"

"What? Didn't you just listen to the story? The other "friend." Lightning sighed, as she folded her arms around her chest.

"Oh…yeah sry, I get it. I guess I'm just a little confused with everything."

"C'mon, Light. You serious? That's just gros!"

Lightning stared through the window at the wide open prairie. The sun was already on it's way to disappear from the sky. Hope couldn't take his eyes off of her. _She clearly isn't feeling well at the moment._ _I should say something._ "Light…are you ok?"

She continued to look outside. "Ok? Couldn't feel any better. The sun shines out of my butt!"

_Okay...that was __self-explanatory_._ Guess I shouldn't push it._ "Okay…so how did the story end?"

"Well…" Sazh looked at Lightning. „You really think he should hear this?"

She didn't pay attention.

"Hmm…okay, let's just say that this guy will have to wear new fashion from now on."

_Oh my god!_ Hopes eyes widened as he recapitulated the events. _When she is like this…when she is really, really angry…then…_ Hope quickly leaned towards Lightning and put his arms around her neck. "I'm so sorry about what I did back there. I'm so sorry, Light. Please forgive me."

Hope showed an unknown strengh with his grab and Lightning had trouble to breath. "Ahh…Hope….stop it! You're choking me!"

_Oh god! What am I doing?_ He pulled his arms back. "S…sorry." _Oh man, I'm just making it worse. She'll put me in the trunk again or worse._

Lightning touched her neck. _Damn, where did that strengh come from? This is really getting out of hand._ She looked back at him. "Look Hope, don't you worry now, ok?. We'll talk about this when we get back to the others, all right?" She turned back. Hope looked down and folded his hands.

"Yo Light!"

_Arg, what is it with that stupid „yo" all the time? _"What is it now, Sazh?"

„What are we going to do now?"

"Let's just get back to the others. Then we'll see."

"Yeah, but…I mean…so far...the last couple of days we had little problems but we can't stay put much longer."

"Yeah, you don't have to tell me that." She looked again out of the window and started to count the passing cactuses. _Man, this is just plain annoying._ "C'mon Sazh. Can't you drive any faster with this junker?"

"I could try but my guess is, that with a speed higher than seventy miles…the car would just explode."

"I think we should take the risk!" _I'm going to call Odin!_

Hope joined the conversation. "Hey…why don't we use your girlfriend?" He giggled. "I just told you it's name…you still remember it?" He burst out laughing.

_Why the hell seems everybody else to know it's name besides me?_ „She is not my girlfriend, damnit!…And there wouldn't be enough space anyway. I mean...I could fit with you in the seat but with Lightning…although she is so bendable and petite…this just wouldn't work."

_What did he just say?_ Lightning stared at him.

_Oh man. __You and your big mouth, again. You're already on borrowed time!_ „Ahem...no…this car will do just fine. It really isn't far anymore."

"But Sazh! You and forgetting your Eidolons name? Man, this is just hard." Hope continued to laugh, although he lowered the volume of his voice. _This is just too good to be true._

"You know, Hope? Would you still laugh if I drove into the moat like…right now?"

Hope lifted his hands. "Woah...take it easy, big guy." _He seriously needs to let off some steam_,_ man._

The twenty-minute ride went on without any further conversation.

They reached "San Aeterna", a small town with about fivehundred residents, as the sign showed at the town entrance. Lightning knew this place from one of her many missions in the field. It was a quiet and antiquated town. When they first arrived a couple of days ago, they looked for the most shabbily and derelict motel they could find. The motel, they resided in, was close to the mainroad so if worst came to worst, they could bail rather easily.

Sazh drove slowly onto the parking area. "Well I hope the others didn't worry too much."

Lightning glimpsed at him. "The others? Well…I think I know how they passed the time. At least two of them." She exited the car.

There weren't many cars to be seen on the area. Lightning knew that this wasn't a place with that much traffic and that suited them perfectly. "All right. Let's move."

They had their room on the second floor. Sazh grabbed his stomach, as he walked behind Lightning and Hope. "Oh man. I'm hungry as hell."

_And the whining continues._ "Why don't you let Hope help you with this? He could cast some water and you could freeze it with an ice spell. After that…well…at least you would have something to suck. This will distract from the hunger."

_Holy…why does she always have to be so nasty?_ Sazh rubbed the back of his head. "Ahem…"

Hope turned around. "Yeah, Sazh…you need a hand?"

_What the hell is going on now? I don't want to suck on some freaking ice block._ "What? Hell no…I mean…maybe later."

They arrived at the door. Lightning knocked once, waited a moment and knocked twice. "Everybody stay calm in there. It's just us." She opened the door with her key and they all disappeared into the room.

Snow sat at the table in the middle of the room with his legs on it. He read a newspaper. "Hey guys." _Finally, they are back. I'm starving here. "_…mhm…I can already taste the potions and the food." He folded the newspaper and put in on the table. "All right guys. Serve up!"

_God is he already annoying as hell. Tz_. Lightning folded her arms over her chest and looked at Sazh. "Sazh, go onto the balcony and wait for me there. I'll be there in a second."

_Huh? I wonder what she wants?_ He nodded and left.

Lightning turned to Hope. "Ok, Hope...now you go into the secondary room and wait for me there. I'll just have to talk to Sazh for a moment."

"A...all right, Light." _Finally there is the chance to fix everything_. Hope went to the door.

Lightning looked around. "Ok, where are Fang and Vanille?" _God, what a stupid question?…Oh no! Hope!_

"Oh, they are…" Snow looked at the door and realized that Hope was about to enter. "Hope, no!" He jumped up from his seat. "Don't go in there!"

But it was too late as the little boy had already opened the door. Hope stood there with shining eyes and didn't move a single inch. _Oh my god!_ His mouth slowly opened. _Please, this better be not a dream_. Their bodies intimately entwined and clearly without any clothes on, both women tossed and turned in bed. Moaning, nearly set on auto-fire, echoed through the room.

"Ah, shit!" Lightning immediately pulled Hope back into the sitting room and closed the door. She screamed and knocked against it. "Hey you two sluts! Finish up already, damnit! This room is needed for something useful!" She looked at Snow furiously. "My god, Snow! Was that really necessary? Couldn't you just say something? Couldn't you or everybody else just lock the damn door?"

"Well, I tried but…" He looked onto the floor embarrassed. "They said they wanted to rest a little bit. I…I already thought that this would turn into this and I definitely was proven right after a couple of minutes but I though it wouldn't be a bad idea to relax a little bit. And I didn't find a key for this door."

_Aaarrggg. I'm going insane here._ "Don't tell me you listened to them all the time."

„No, of course not…I watched some TV, slept a little bit…but can you believe this?…At one time, Vanille left the room and grabbed a Soda, the last one by the way, from the refrigerator…and then she asked me to join them!"

_Vanille would say something like that? Vanille? To Snow?_ Hope looked down onto his hands as he folded them again. "And…and did you?"

"HOPE!" Both Lightning and Snow screamed at him.

Lightning sighed and ran with her fingers through her hair. _Is everybody here freaking out?_ "All right, Hope. Just stay here with Snow and wait until they are finished or whatever. I have to get some fresh air." Lightning went onto the balcony and closed the sliding door behind her.

Snow scratched the back of his hat. "Sooo Hope…how was the shopping?"

"We better sit down for this!…For many reasons."

* * *

Outside, Sazh leaned against the railing and watched the sunset. _Oh crap! I think I know what she wants from me._ He stared at the darkening sky. _Man, it's getting dark very early._ He heard Lightning behind him. She walked next to him and put her arms on the railing, too. She took a deep breath. "Eventful day today, huh?"

"Y…you can say that. We got off lightly this time, eh?" He looked onto the ground. "Look, Light…I'm sorry about this whole mess." He took his view to her eyes but she was still looking at the sunset. "I'm really sorry about what happened back in that store. It is inexcusable about what happened with Brynhildr and I could understand if you wanted to break my balls for this now."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sazh…" She turned to him and looked him in the eyes. „Indeed...it was a very…very big mess..."

Sazh could see as she clenched her fist. _Oh oh! Well, I guess now is the moment. __Just don't try to scream, old man._ He went back a couple of steps instinctively, while Lightning followed him slowly. _Damn man_! Sazh began to sweat. He looked around. _Hmm, I could jump down onto the street. I would probably just sprain my ankle or break it in the worst case but it's better than anything what's about to come now_. He banged his back against the wall.

Lightning stopped a couple of inches in front of him. "…but I know you're not the youngest anymore and I do understand that your brain isn't working so good anymore." She started to smile.

_That means…that means…_ "You don't want to kick my ass, now?" He exhaled and vellicated with his mouth.

"Sazh…I don't hit old men." She turned around and positioned herself back at the railing, looking at the sunset. She couldn't avoid to start laughing.

_She was…she was just playing with me?_ He felt as if thousands of stones fell off his back._ She is so mean._ He approached her slowly and put his hand on her shoulder. "Oh boy. I was just scared like hell." He started to laugh, too.

He just wanted to embrace her tightly and rub with his fist over her beautiful, long hair. But he just leaned at the railing next to her and they shared their moment of joy.

* * *

Snow and Hope looked at each other. "Wow…so I think that is also a way to deal with a situation like this. I think the last events were very upsetting for them…kind of traumatic maybe. Do you think they laugh in desperation or madness?"

"I don't know, Snow. But whatever it is…it is frightening."

"Okay…so how are you holding up so far?"

"Yeah, well…you know…I was in the trunk the whole time and I missed nearly everything."

"I see. Sorry to hear that but…you really tried to hit on Lightning?"

Suddenly, the door to the secondary room opened. "Who tried to hit on who?" Fang appeared with Vanille at hand.

Hope squeezed his eyes. _NO! Why do they always have to appear at the wrong place at the wrong time?_

"Oh…hey, hey. Nice from you to finally join us." Snow glanced back at Hope.

Vanille put her hair straight. "Yeah…you can thank Fang for that. If it was me…we wouldn't have left for the night." She grabbed around Fangs hip and pressed herself against her back.

"Hey, Vanille. Don't get me edgy again! Behave!"

Hope stood up and ran into the room, from where the two women just had left. He slammed the door behind him.

"What's wrong with him?" Fang frowned. "He isn't jealous is he?" She watched the closed door. "Hmm…he's still a little young, but…"

Snow shook his head. "Oh my god, Fang. Are you out of your mind?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Just saying."

"Ok sit down…both of you. I have to tell you something."

Fang sat down and Vanille set herself on Fangs lap. Vanille could see Lightning with Sazh on the balcony. "Hey…what's Lightning doing outside with Sazh?"

"Oh that…well, they are just trying their way to cope with the incident."

"Incident? What happened?"

* * *

"Wow, Light. Thanks…it was good to finaly laugh again. Really...thanks, Light."

"But don't think you can mess up anytime now, ok?" She turned around. "Oh finally, they are out."

"All right. I'm going to stay out here a little while longer."

"Don't get a cold."

Lightning left Sazh back outside and joined the others inside the room. "Aah, you two lovebirds. Pleased yourself enough?"

"Of course not! But of course we had to make room for the mighty Lightning and his catamite." She giggled. "Oh…he's waiting for you wistfully. Harrrr."

Vanille squeezed Fangs hip. "Fang! Oh you're so bad!"

_Tz, I really don't have time for this_. "Snow! Just make sure these two don't do anything stupid, ok?"

Fang liftet her hand. „Wait!…You mean like…we don't do anything stupid or like…we don't do anything stupid with him?"

Snow, who had already started to read the newspaper again, lowered the paper a few inches so he could just glance over it. He saw as both Fang and Vanille looked at him closely with their index fingers in their mouth. His eyes widened and they nearly dared to drop out of their respective eyehole_s. Ooookkkaaayyyy_. He slowly lifted the paper. _Ok, quick. Where's the sport section?_

"Just behave, okay?. At least for the next thirty minutes." Lightning turned away.

"We'll do our best…won't we, Vanille?"

Lightning marched on to the door. She opened it and closed it slowly behind her. She leaned against it and exhaled. _Glad to finally have some silence._

Hope lay on the bed, turned aside. He looked at his brand. Lightning slowly approached him and sat herself next to him. She observed his brand. It was still in it's initial stage. There was still fairly enough time. "Look, Hope…"

"I…I'm sorry, Light…I know that it was wrong to kiss you…I…"

Lightning put her hand on his cheek. "Easy, Hope. Nothing happened."

Her hands were so soft and calming. He instantly felt quesy around his stomach region. He took her hand off of his cheek and turned to the other side.

"Hope…"

"It was a mistake, Light."

Now it was Lightnings turn to feel uneasy. "I…I just never imagined you felt this way."

"I really can't say myself. Maybe it was all the tention at this point, but…" He took a deep breath and turned around. "…I…I can't and I won't deny that I don't have any feelings for you. It's just…I like you so much." He put his arms around her and buried his face in her chest.

"Aww, poor kiddo." She drove her hand through his silver hair. "You know that I like you too and I'm always here to protect you, but…" She pushed his head back a little and looked in his eyes. He had little tears in them. "…I…I just have to get my own feelings straight…I mean…you're kinda like a little brother to me…just…give me some time, okay? Will that work for you, too?"

He smiled lightly. "More than enough, Light." They embreaced again and sat there without breaking the silence for the next couple of minutes.

* * *

"So basically we have to go out now and start hunting again?" _This is total bullshit._

"What? Hunting? Here? What do you want to hunt in this place, Fang?"

Fang stood up and approached Sazh. "Well…how about your little friend? It's not like that he is of any good use besides looking cute as hell."

"Fang!" Vanille jumped up from her seat and grabbed her lover by her arm. "Don't you dare to touch the chocobo!"

"What? C'mon…you know I'm right."

_My god, she's completely crazy._ Sazh touched his hair and stepped back a couple of steps.

Snow stood in front of him. "Okay, okay. I think we should calm down now. We all know that we can't stay here any longer. We're running out of gil and we have no more supplies. So we better start to think of something right now, damnit!"

"Oh…now look who's talking?…Yeah sure. So why don't you start now and make a suggestion!"

"Okay…well…so I…"

"Go figure!"

"All right, then why don't you say something?"

Suddenly the door behind them opened and Lightning showed out. "I could make a suggestion."

Everybody turned around to look at her.

"I talked to Hope or rather he mentioned this to me, although we've already spoken about it. He made the proposition to get to Palumpolum, his hometown, to see his father. He could support us with supplies and money."

Sazh was the first to speak. "You know that this is equatable to a suicide mission. I mean…they are basically waiting for us there."

Lightning leaned against the wall, her arms folded over her chest. "Yes…you can bet on that but we can't move on like this. All this motels and inns are just freaking us out and times are over where it was possible to obtain some money from monster battles. Hope said, that his father could support us. He even has an airship."

Snow put his hat straight. "Well…it sounds like a plan but…I don't know. I don't like it."

"Me neither but this could be a good chance. I don't intent to stay there longer than a night. We gather everything we need and get the hell out of there."

Hope appeared behind her. Vanille approached him and put her arms on his shoulders. "Hope…are you really sure?"

"Y…yes. It's past due that I talk to him after everything that had happened. And I know he's going to help us."

Fang walked around the table, all kinds of thoughts spinning around her head. She then put her leg on the chair and leaned on it. "Yeah…but how high are the chances that your house is wired or observed? I mean…they have to know that there would be the possibility for you to show up there."

"We wait for the darkness and we would scout the area before even going near their residence." Lightning started to walk around.

"And I know all about the sewers and the underground pipes to sneak through the harbor. I used to play there with a couple of friends."

"Man…this is some crazy stuff." Sazh rubbed his neck. _Arg…I really should stop that. It's already all raw._

"Maybe it's crazy but I really think this'll work out if we work together. I mean…we can talk about everything if there is another idea."

Everybody stayed silent.

"Okay…so I guess nobody wants to object. We'll leave in the morning. It is a long way to Palumpolum and we should try to reach it in two days at most." Lightnings eyes wandered around. _Did they even listen?_ "All right...I'm going to take a shower." She left into the bathroom.

"So we are really going right into the heart of darkness?", Sazh spoke as he waved around with his hands.

Snow eased down himself onto the couch. "It's crazy, isn't it."

Sazh walked to the sliding door and looked outside. The sun was gone and darkness enwrapped the small town. He rubbed his chin. "Hmm…but maybe that's our advantage."

Vanille looked at everybody else. "Hey! I don't like the apocalyptic sentiment right now! Why don't we play something?"

* * *

After her shower, Lightning exited the secondary room, only to see everybody else gathering around the table. All kinds of cards were scattered around it. _How can they play that stupid poker now? They should already go to bed and rest for tomorrow._

Snow glanced at Lightning, while slamming his cards on the table. "Oh…hey, sis!"

"I'm not your…" _This is really getting lame after all those times…just screw it. _

"You cheating bastard!" Fang jumped up from her chair and pointed her finger at Snow. "Snow…I'm warning you!"

Snow held up both of his arms. "Hey, hey. Now someone her seems to be a sore loser!"

"A sore loser? You have won three times in a row with respectively two jacks, two queens and two freaking aces to get a full house each time."

He leaned back on his chair, putting his folded hands behind his neck. "Well…I guess I'm just a lucky bastard."

His smile was all over his face and Fang was nearly exploding as she saw it. "No freaking way! There is no luck attribute in this world. Take of your gloves!"

Snow frowned. "Come again?"

"I said…take off your damn gloves."

„Why should I take off my gloves?"

She took one of the cards. "So that everybody here can see, that you have a whole bunch of those hidden under them."

Sazh intervened. "Just take it slow, Fang. We don't want to accuse people randomly."

"Oh…so you're on his side. _Damn…where is my Lance!"_

"Hey…whoa…stop here. We shouldn't overreact."

_Oh god. What circus is this_? "C'mon guys, that's enough." Lightning sat herself on the couch.

"Yeah…thanks, sis. It's just a game. We want to have a little fun, nothing more."

"Snow…" Suddenly Vanille glanced at him. „...you better show her your gloves or do I have to snap my fingers?"

_Now that just blew my face._ „Uuuhh? And then what?"

"I learned a new spell last night and now…I just have to snap my fingers while pointing at you and it's bye-bye Mr. Snowman." She giggled.

"Uhm…yeah sure."_ Muuahahahahaha. Is she even serious?_

Vanille looked at him in a devastating manner. _Woah. She never ever looked at me like that. And if she's telling the truth? C'mon…she really can't be serious. I mean…would she really do this to me? Of course she wouldn't…or would she? Because of some gloves? Does such a spell even exist? This is nonsense!  
_

"So, you wanna try to find out?"

Snow looked around irritated. "Hey, Light!. You might want to support me with this?"

Lightning crossed her legs and leaned back. _Now I'm really curious how this is going to play out. _"C'mon, Snow. You're a big guy. You don't need my help." She looked at Vanille. "So Vanille. You can really to something like this?"

„Of course I can...when I was in the bathroom this morning, there was this really big and scary spider crawling along the floor. She scared me to death so I pointed at her, used my spell and she didn't move anymore."

Snow started to laugh. "Oh my…Vanille…this is too good."

"What? NO! Seriously! I became really curious and wanted to try again, so I had to find another exemplar."

Hope looked around. "Wait! There are spiders in here?"

"Are you serious with this question? Look at this dump!" Fang smirked.

"Sooo…did you find another one?" Hopes eyes wandered around.

"Well…I walked around the room while everybody else was sleeping. Thought I would find another one somewhere on the floor but as I passed Snow there was a spider crawling from under his hat."

"Oh gros!" Lightning turned away. Hope held his mouth with his hands.

"Well…don't want to know what's else under your hat", Sazh said.

Snow began to blush.

"So anyway…I watched it and when it was on the floor I tried again…and it died immediately."

Snow scratched his hat...again. "So…you just killed two innocent spiders?"

"Yay…better them than me."

"Woah…so really, eh? And this works with humans, too?"

"Well…I haven't actually tried but..." She watched him closely.

His heart began to race. "Hey yo…c'mon…" _Man, she is just bluffing. No way in hell she has a magic spell like this. We wouldn't have any problems with a spell like this anymore. But damn…that look of hers scares me to death right now. Damnit!_

Vanille lifted her hand and slowly rubbed her fingers. Small, white sparks were flying.

_Oh shit! She's serious!_ "All right, all right." Snow slowly took of his gloves and put them on the table. His eyes glued to Vanille. He held up his hands. "Y...you see…nothing."

Fang quickly grabbed the gloves and started to shake them. It didn't take long and the content fell out. "Oh…oh…now what do we have here?" Half a dozen cards cleaved their way on to the table. Her eyes shined. "Ha…I told ya."

Snow started to blush und looked around emberassed. _Maybe she just try it with that spell_. "I…I can explain."

Lightning sighed. "Glad nobody had to die for this." She smirked.

Vanille grinned and started to laugh. „Haha...poor Snow...you really thought I would do something like this to you?"

"I give you the permission to try."

"Well…at last we can return to our game."

Snow stood up slowly. "Excuse me. I need to go to the bathroom and cry." He left.

Fang shuffled the cards. "Hey, Light. Why don't you join us?"

_What? Me and that game?_ "Hmm…not really."

Hope stood up from his chair and sat himself next to Lightning. "C'mon, Light. This will be fun. We can't do anything now anyway, so let's have some diversion."

_Oh man. How are the rules in this game anyway?_ "No...I'm really tired."

"No way, sugar! You're never tired!"

"C'mon, Light. We'll play together."

_God!...Just one round_. "A...all right."

He took her to the table.

"Oh, yeah. Now this will get interesting." Fang gave Vanille a we're-so-going-to-humiliate-them-look.

Sazh tipped Vanille on her shoulder, while Fang dealt the cards. "So, Vanille…in private…is it really true with that spell?"

"What do you think?" She burst out laughing.

* * *

**So far the longest chapter with a lot of dialogue but I think it's just great to have the entire cast interact with each other. **

**So I chose the Palumpolum storyline from the actual game as their new destination, although they won't reach the location without any further trouble^^. I just thought that the part in Palumpolum (especially the scenes at the Estheim residence) had a lot of potential which wasn't used to it's full extent in my opinion. I know that the entire cast wasn't present in the actual game at that time and there are other things which don't quiet fit but as I mentioned in the first chapter...this storyline varies in comparison to the actual game^^ **

**Thanks again for all the reviews so far. Keep 'em comming and if anything else should still be unclear, badly explained or deserves to be thrown into the "suckality-box"...don't hesitate to ask and tell^^ **


	6. The morning after

**A/N: Hey, guys...back from the attack. Now this chapter is shorter than the previous one but at least we're making progress...even though it's a slow one. Sorry for that but it's a joy wo write these little things^^**

**I also went down with the rating for now. M was way over my head and Final Fantasy isn't really about blood and gore, as I first planned in this story. But let's see as the story progresses. Many things are still bound to happen...  
**

**Thanks again for all the reviews. Glad and hope you're still enjoying it so far^^**

Chapter 6

The new day began and the shafts of sunlight pierced through the rolling blind from the window next to the front door. Lightning sat on the sill and glanced through the shutter to overlook the parking area outside. Everything was quiet and desolate. The same two cars they saw yesterday still stood at the same spot. A rough wind blew through the area and a few tumbleweeds strolled with it. Lightning averted her gaze from the parking area and looked through the room.

The chairs, usually leaned against the table with care, were scattered over the entire room. Only one was at it's place. Sazh had made himself comfortable on one of the chairs, with his legs resting on the table. His arms dangled and his head was tilted backwards. Even though he was sleeping, he couldn't keep his mouth shut._ My god! __How can you snore like that?_

Snow slept on the couch with his hat pulled over his face. Hope lay on top of him. _Can you imagine that the little boy wanted to kill that oaf a couple of days ago? _"Tch." Lightning shook her head._ How things change. Guess they are best friends now but how did he end up on top of Snow?  
_

Fang and Vanille slept in bed in the secondary room, snuggled together. Lightning looked at the closed door. _You can say what you want but these two really fit together_. _Even though the annoyance factor is doubled this way._ Lightning glanced at her watch. _I give them five more minutes_._ Then it's time to move._ She was interrupted in her thoughts when she heard a clicking noise from Sazh's direction.

He stretched his arms, while his mouth opened wide to offer the escape of a yawn. Still in a mist, he looked at Lightning and spoke quietly. "Ohh…morning."

She smiled at him briefly. "Morning."

He slowly took his legs of the table and looked at the couch. He frowned and pointed in bewilderment at the two laying figures, while he searched for an answer in Lightnings eyes. But she just shrugged her shoulders. Sazh stood up without making too much noise and joined the ex-soldier, who still sat on the sill. "Hey, Light! How long have you been up already? You caught some sleep, right?"

"Na…couldn't get much of it. Thanks to you! But I wonder how the others can sleep with your amazing musical saw."

"What? C'mon…I don't." _Did I?_ "Why didn't you say something or hit me or something like that?"

"Oh, I know you're the one who needs sleep the most and I wasn't that tired anyway." She blinked with an eye and smirked.

_Always good for a joke in the morning, eh? _Sazh leaned a little closer to Lightning and started to whisper in her ear, while he pointed at the couch. "Hey, can you tell me how Hope ended up on Snow?"

"Guess you have to ask them yourself. I have no clue how that happened but it sure as hell looks cute, doesn't it?"

"Well I think it looks a little…weird maybe?"

"How so?"

"How so?...I don't know. Just look how Snow has his arm around Hope's back. It...it seems as if Snow is kinda attracted to…uhm…people way under his own age."

"What do you mean with that?"

Sazh stepped back. "Well…I have to say…what is it with Serah? I don't think many people are convinced in his relationship with your sister." Sazh could see as Lightning's eyes began to tighten. "C'mon, Light!…Seriously…she looks like she's just 15!"

"15? She's older than Vanille! And leave my sister out of this!" _But he has a point somehow...Snow seems to be a little strange in that regard. I don't like him being with Serah anyway.  
_

Sazh lifted his arms. "Sorry…just wanted to tell...but…speaking of…did you solve your little…incident with Hope?"

Lightning crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the sleeping boy. "For now, I guess…" She sighed.

"He was in such a good mood after you've talked to him. What did you say to him?"

She looked at her watch again. "I'll tell you later. C'mon…it's time to move. Go and wake up the others. I go outside and wait at the car!"

"Something wrong, Light?"

"I'm fine. Just want to check the car to see if it's still safe."

"Yeah, all right. We'll be out in 10 to maybe 50 minutes. Depending on Fang and Vanille. As always."

"You can handle it."

Lightning moved from the sill and opened the front door quietly. She disappeared onto the access balcony, while Sazh made his way to Hope and Snow.

Lightning leaned against the railing and closed her eyes. _So peaceful and quiet in the mornings. Just priceless._ She took a pair of sunglasses out of her side pocket and put them on before she went down the stairs. _I'm totally badass with this glasses._

* * *

"Hey you two pussycats…wake up!" Sazh shook Hope with caution.

Hope began to move his arms sluggardly and rubbed his eyes. A yawn left his mouth._ What the hell is going on here?  
_

"Hey c'mon, little man…it's time. And be gentle to Snow."

_Gentle to Snow? Whatever that means._ Hope opened his eyes slowly and watched Sazh as he approached the door to wake up Fang and Vanille. _Hmm, strange…why do I keep going up and down all the time? Hmm, thought the couch was much softer, too. Just strange…_ He felt around with his small hands_. Oh my god!_ Immediately, Hope pushed himself up with his arms and looked right at Snow, who just lifted his hat. "H…hey, Hope."

_Woah_. Hope jumped of the couch. _What the hell? What am I doing on top of him?_

Snow propped himself on his elbows. "Uhm…don't want to sound harsh but when did you get on top of me?"

_He doesn't know, too? Or is he just playing dump?_ "Well, hell if I know. The last time I closed my eyes, I was in bed."

Meanwhile, Sazh banged against at the door with his fists. "Hey…wake up you two late risers or stop right now whatever it is you are doing! It's time to get ready, yo!" Suddenly Fang's spear bored through the door and missed his head just by a couple of inches.

"Screw you, Sazh! Is that a way to wake up the ladies?"

_Geez...that was close. Ok, next time…you're going to do it, Light!_ "You know you're going to have to pay for that, right Fang?"_  
_

_

* * *

_Lightning walked around the car and rechecked the tires, each time pressing with her foot against them. _Man…this is such a piece of shit! We really need a new one or we won't be able to get out of this town. _The other cars around weren't of much help. They were much smaller and Lightning just realized now that one of those had it's tires missing._ Why don't we have on of these Eidolon things which can fly, damnit?_

Lightning left the parking area and headed towards the main road. She passed the still empty reception. _Of course not…nobody is showing up here before noon_ _anyway_. There wasn't much traffic in this place at all but it was litteraly dead in the mornings.

_

* * *

_The front door of their room was opened and everybody began to exit slowly. Snow closed the door behind him. "So guys…I really have to get this off my chest. Anyone know how Hope ended up on top of me?"

The two ladies started to chuckle and Hope felt his face turning red. "Y…yes…tell us…because I know I slept in bed. It was you Fang, wasn't it?"

Fang put her hand on his little shoulder. "Yes…that's true but you know…I wanted to have a little…privacy with Vanille. So you had to leave."

"What? What kind of shitty reason is this?"

"Ah...now watch your temper!... And don't be mad, Hope. Snow seemed soo lonely there on the couch…I really couldn't resist...oh, it was a sight for the gods."

Snow and Hope glanced at each other. _Eewww._

"And it got even better when he immediately put his arm around you. To die for, I tell you!" Fang and Vanille couldn't hold it anymore as they started to roar with laughter.

Snow blushed immediately. "I…I must have had a dream of Serah or something."

"Yeah, the height and the age fits.…You totally go for younger people, Snow!" said Fang, already with tears in her eyes.

"I do what?"

Vanille took Snow by his arm. "It's so true. Hope is 14. Serah is just 15!"

"Serah is no way in hell 15! She's 18 for christ's sake. Go and ask Lightning! We're doing nothing wrong here."

"Yeah…but you can't deny that she looks as if she's only 15. Snow…that's not right."

"C'mon guys. I know you have a point there but give the man some space. This is not helping us in our situation right now!" said Sazh, who himself tried not to laugh.

Meanwhile, Lightning had leaned against the car. "Ah, finally…there you are. Thought I had to get you out myself. "

"Well, good morning yourself, Light. Nice to see you. Did you sleep well? Yes…thank you for asking."

_Do they have their monthlies, or what? _"Well, I hope you didn't leave a mess behind, Fang."

Snow kneeled before the car and looked at the engine hood. "Hey…do we really have to drive with this crap? I mean…we have to sit back there…with four people…for hours!"

Fang joined Snow. "Hey, Light! Here's the deal. I guess you are going to demand the front seat again so why don't you take Hope on your lap?"

Hope blushed. _Really? I've never thought about that._ "Well…this…this could be a possibility."_ C'mon...Lightning would never agree to this._

_What? Hope on my lap? No way__! How would that look like?_ "No! That's not working!"

"Why not!" Fang stared at her with a penetrating gaze. "Don't tell me you wouldn't like it."

_Oh…I would like it…probably too much though. _"Yeah, Light…if you don't mind…I think…"

_Hell no! What if he looses control again and starts to freak out? I can already see it in his eyes._ "No!"

Vanille approached Hope and hugged him. "Don't be sad, Hope. You can sit on my lap if that evil witch doesn't want you."

_Witch? Now that's new. Ah, whatever. He'll get over it._

Snow rose behind the engine hood. "Hey, Light. Can I drove today?"

"You?"

"Hell yes. It's getting tight as hell back there. And I'm going to push this badboy to it's limit. We'll be in Palumpolum in just a couple of hours."

Sazh, who stood next to Lightning, whispered to her. "Really? I have a bad feeling about this. Remember the last time he..."

"Ah, what's the harm, Sazh? He should be able to drive a straight line this time. At least he'll have to concentrate and won't have to tell his stupid jokes."

"You're right. It's worth the try!" Sazh went to Snow and handed over the car keys.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Snow put his fist into the air.

* * *

Snow was the last one to shut his door. He adjusted the seat and looked through the rear mirror. "Everything all right back there?"

"Shut up and drive, Snow!"

"Yeah, yeah…all right." He banged his fist into his other hand and then tightened his hat "All rriight. Welcome to Villiers Express. Please fasten your seatbelt…"

Lightning rubbed her face slowly, while she shook her head. _How can someone talk so much...and soo much nonsense?_

"All right…lets go!" He piled the key into the ignition lock and the engine reved up. But as soon as Snow engaged the low gear, the car began to stutter and went silent. Seconds later, the engine hood popped open and smoke ascended into the air. Nobody moved for the next sixty seconds as different thoughts crossed their minds.

Snow: _Whoops. Didn't see that one coming.  
_

Lightning_: I think it would be best if the car just explodes right now. We probably wouldn't get out in time… but at least Snow wouldn't, too._

Sazh: _The best decision he had made his entire life. Glad I wasn't the one to drive today_.

Hope: _Am I just turned on by Vanilles breath?_

Vanille: _Well…better now than driving at 100 mph._

Fang: _Vanille looks so cute with Hope…the next time...he stays in bed with us. Is that sick?_

_

* * *

_Snow slowly took his hands of the wheel. He scratched his hat and turned to Light. "Uhm…so what now?"


	7. Crazy

**A/N: Hey ho, everybody! Welcome to the 7th installment of this story. Thanks again for all the lovely reviews. Really glad you have no "problems" with my crazy ideas so far^^ **

**But speaking of...this chapter might be a little weird or weirder than the others^^. Mainly because of a scene between Fang and Vanille...you'll see. I had this scene in my mind since the beginning of this story and I thought about writing it down...as I just wasn't tired last night and with my crazy mind...I had to write it^^. An "interesting" and maybe somehow unique scene. But it also may be over the top, way too much and completely unnecessary.  
**

**Other than that...lean back and enjoy :D**

Chapter Se7eN

"Uhm…so what now?" Snow looked at Lightning at first and then turned his head aside to look for answers from his other fellow passengers. He didn't get any assistance, as everybody was kinda lost for words. They all stared at the smoke, which forced it's way out into the air. Lightning just sat on her seat with absolutely no movement and her eyes closed.

_Oh my god! She's going to explode any minute_! _How am I able to get out of this?...Think!...A joke could help...no! _Snow kept thinking and thinking, knowing his time was almost up. He clothed his face in the most charming and disarming smile, he could ever think of. "H...hey, Light. Do you actually know that you look kinda hot with that glasses of yours?"

Sazh began to shake his head, as he rubbed his forehead. _Oh, Snow. That was probably the worst you could have said._

Lightning suddenly kicked her door open and jumped out. _I'm gonna kill him right here and right now! He's dead!_ She ran around the car to his side.

Snow's heart began to race immediately and he looked around for any kind of help. He tried to lock his door from the inside but he failed miserably as he broke off the door knob. _Yeah…story of my life._

Lightning wrenched the door open and pulled Snow out of the car with ease. He fell onto the ground hard and gasped. She slammed the door to give her more space for what was about to unfold. "Are you of any use besides screwing up and getting smacked in the face all the FREAKING TIME?"

Snow propped himself up slowly and reached out his arm self-protective. "Hey…wait! How is it my fault when that stupid car…" He couldn't finish his desperate bid to get himself out of trouble, as he was hit by Lightning in the face to bring him back down to earth.

_Aarrgg_. Lightning charged at him and punched him again. _I have to beat this uselessness out of him!_ She houled off for another blow, when Sazh grabbed her around the waist and carried her to the side. She struggled. "Ah, Sazh...let me go, damnit!"

"Calm down, Light! It wasn't his fault." he said, as he had more and more trouble holding her.

"Yes!…It's always his fault!" Lightning pushed herself away from Sazh's grip.

Snow crawled back a couple of meters. "E…easy, sis! You're not thinking rationally here!"

"He's right, Light! It…it could have happened to anyone." said Hope, who approached Snow.

_Tch…yeah sure._ She looked at Snow, who still resided on the ground. _I'm really starting to loose my mind here!_

Hope kneeled down next to Snow. "You ok, Snow?"

"Arg…not really." He rubbed his jaw. "I think I'm going to pass out."

_God, he's such a wuss. _Hope helped him to get back on his feet. "C'mon, Snow. You know she didn't mean anything of what she just said."

"Hell yeah, I meant what I said." Lightning already began to rush towards Snow but was held back by Fang and Vanille.

Snow shook the dirt off of his jacket. _Yeah, of course she didn't mean it…pff…when eyes could kill…I'd be dead right now…Damnit, I'd already be dead a long time ago_. "Ok…so what's the big deal, anyway? I think we can all agree that this car was utterly crap!" He kicked against one of the tires. "So why don't we just use our Eidolons?"

"We talked about that. The problem is...they are way too noticeable, Snow! That's why we wanted to use an ordinary car. You know...low profile!" said Sazh who glanced at Lightning. _Whoops…forgot we're already past that._

"May be, but I don't see any other options right now. We really should get the hell out of here and we'll just move on so long until we find another car. No big deal! And besides…our Eidolons aren't THAT abnormal."

Lightning began to laugh. "Oh yeah? A wannabe formula one car with tires bigger than Hope and a motorbike, made up of two women or whatever they are, are perfectly common, right?"

"What?" Snow moved a step closer to Lightning and pointed at her, still assuring himself he wasn't in her striking zone. "So I guess you're little horse with at least four PINK eyes is the personification of innocence, right?"

Sazh moved in between the two and lifted his arms. "All right, all right. This has to stop now! I'd say...we should just go with the Eidolons before wasting any more time. And we are actually running out of time, you know?" He stared at Lightning. "And what do you mean with that wannabe stuff…?"

Lightning didn't answer him. _Damnit...I really don't like this...but what other options we got now?_

Hope moved next to her. "C'mon, Light. Just until we find us a new car." He took her hand and pulled it a little. "C'mon, Light!"

"A…all right, fine." She sighed and turned to Snow. "You take the two chicks here!"

He scratched the back of his head. "Uhm…of course I'm going to take the...chicks…they are my…ooohhh…y...you mean Fang and Vanille?"

_Oh god! Mentally…he is already in negative numbers._

"Y…yeah, sure. I can take them. C'mon, Ladies!"

Vanille wrapped around Fang's arm and whispered. "Uhh…riding on two girls. Now that should be fun."

Hope stood there and played nervously with his hands. "H…hey, Light. So can I ride with…" _No stop…that just doesn't sound right_. He coughed slightly. "Ahem…can you take me with you?"

"You really don't want to join Sazh in his...thing?"

Hope just wagged his head and looked at her with beady eyes.

_Oh...why does he always have to use that look?_ "Ok, Hope. You can come with me." She looked at Sazh. „You're ok on your own there?"

"YES! My wannabe formula one car at least shows me some love." _Hmm…that came out weird._

She smirked. "All right. Let's go."

Lightning, Snow and Sazh summoned their Eidolons and left the area on them.

* * *

Sazh had the fastest means of transport so he stayed ahead. Snow stayed midfield and Lightning rode at the back. Although Odin was quiet fast she didn't want to push it over the edge and therefore fell off a bit. Clutched tightly around Lightnings waist, Hope pressed himself against her back. _Ahh…it's so nice to lean against her strong back…this is just…oh man…that permanent up and down isn't really helping here._

„Hey, girls...you want to listen to some music?" The wind blew Snow's yellow hair once more into his face.

"WHAT? I can't hear you? You said something?" Fang leaned onto his shoulder.

"I SAID…DO YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO SOME MUSIC?"

"Ah…keep it down! Don't want to get deaf." She rubbed her ear. "So you have a radio here or something?"

"Yeah…well…not directly but those ladies we're on, really know how to raise the roof."

"Really?"

"Hell yeah. So what you want to listen to?"

Sazh still was with his Brynhildr in first place. The heavy bass lines further pressed against his chest as he pumped up the volume. He headbanged to the rhythm. _This sound system is just total badass. They nearly think about everything when it comes to those things. Oh yeah...  
_

_

* * *

_They have been en route for about two hours on this forsaken highway. The only things they came across so far have a been a couple of cars on the side road and the no-longer-existing store. Interestingly...nothing had changed when they passed that place. _Either nobody came across the store in the last sixteen hours or those who did just didn't give a shit._ Sazh caughed sight of a sign. Next rest stop in 100 miles. _Holy shit! __100 miles? __Where the hell are we? No, no, no...that's way too long._ He navigated onto the side road and reduced his speed until Snow was next to him.

"Oh hey, Sazh. Nice from you to pay us a visit. What's up? Getting lonely in there?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hey…have you seen the sign? I'd say we take a break at the next possible resting place. My legs are killing me right now!"

"Yeah…that sounds good. The ladies here are loosing their voices anyway."

Sazh slowed down a little bit more until he had a neck-and-neck race with Lightning. "Hey, hey. Everything all right so far? Not too exhausted or…?"

"Oh yeah...Odin is holding up fine so far."

"Hey…I thought we could make a break at the next resting place. I really need to stretch myself a bit."

"Yeah, yeah, old man. But not for too long!"

Hope still clutched onto Lightning. _Oh man…you really could get used to that. C'mon…riide Lightning! __Giddyaap!_

_

* * *

_They reached a lonesome resting place with a small parking area after twenty more minutes. Sazh immediately disappeard into the men's room. Fang also persued her needs. As soon as Lightning arrived with Hope at the scene, the little boy jumped off the horse and stormed after Sazh. _Oh man…I need to get off the pressure…NOW!_

Vanille walked around the corner of the small structure and found herself a nice, warm rock to sit on. Lightning stretched her legs and headed for the bench. _Puh…guess I pulled a muscle after all the riding. Just gonna lay down a bit. _

Fang hurried out of the ladies' room. _Gee…what a smell! Completely unbearable._ She looked around for Vanille. „Vanille sweetheart...where are you hiding?" She heard her voice yelling a "I'm here" from a distance. _What is she doing_? Fang made her way to Vanille and passed the men's room. _Oh god. __This smells even worse._

With dreamy eyes, Vanille sat alone on the rock, her head braced into her hands.

"Hey, Vanille. What are you doing there?

„Fang! It's not working anymore!"

„What do you mean?"

"Look!"

Fang walked slowly around the rock and sat herself next to her lover.

"Look, Fang! You see that scorpion?"

Fang flinched a bit. _Eeww. Scorpions…I hate scorpions_… She held on to her spear.

"It tried to sting me as I sat here. So I dazed it with a spell and now...I try the whole time to cast my new so called death-spell on that scorpion and it…it just won't work."

_Again that stupid spell! _She sighed._ What is wrong with her?...And what's with the useless animal killing, anyway?_

"Look, Fang!" Vanille snapped again with her fingers and nothing happened. Again and again, a white circle appeared above the scorpion and when it faded away, a dark layer overshadowed the animal and disappeared after a second to give it it's usual color back.

"All right, Vanille…now stop for a moment, will ya?" She fondled Vanille's soft cheek. "Hey...you already told the others that you actually have that spell in your repertoire?"

"No, not yet. But I wanted to demonstrate it in our next boss fight. Oh, I so want to see their faces." She giggled. And again a failed attempt.

_God, she's losing it._ "Vanille…could you stop that for a moment now? That sound really gets on my nerves!" Vanille's face seemed to be a little pale. "Hey…you all right?"

_Damn headache_. „N...no...I have to do this now. There has to be some kind of trick. I…I'm already at attempt 12."

"Hmm, maybe you just have a probability of about…I don't know…maybe 10 percent...or 5 percent or lower that it actually works."

"What? How stupid would that be?" Another failed attempt.

"Ok, Vanille. I've had it, damnit! Stop right now!" Fang grabbed Vanille's hand and just in that moment she snapped once more with her fingers but this time unintenionally pointing at Fang.

Fang's eyes shot open as an enormous pressure built up in her chest in an instant. She broke away from Vanille and jumped off the rock. She took a few steps back and dropped her spear as she lost all the strengh in her arms. Everything in her head began to turn and her surroundings seemed to elapse in slow motion. She could hear her heart beating louder and faster. The pressure had spread over her entire body and her legs began to shake extremely.

"Oh my god!…FANG!" Vanille put her hands in front of her mouth and had to see as the love of her life tumbled back step by step.

Fangs vision got blurrier. She was seconds away from dashing to the ground, as her heart was about to explode. She could see as her skin began to darken slowly and she wanted to scream. Her entire body shiverred and she was completely covered in sweat.

The pressure was too much. It exploded in her head and she screamed out and everything went silent around her for the next few seconds.

The pressure slowly disappeared and she could feel her heart beat normalizing. Still stunned, she started to hear Vanille's voice.

"FANG!" Vanille rushed to Fang and held her arm. „Oh god, Fang. Are you ok?"

Completely winded, Fang breathed heavily. _Holy shit! That...that was…!_

"Oh god! Fang…say something!"

Still weighed down, Fang put her hand on Vanille's shoulder. "Wow, sweetheart…" She gasped. "I didn't know you had THAT much power in your tiny hands." She smiled lightly.

"Oh, Fang!" Vanille burst in tears of joy and hugged her with all the power she had.

"E...easy, easy there."

"I'm sorry, Fang. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry. My god…I will never use that stupid spell again."

Fang pulled away from Vanille and looked at her. She put her hands on her cheeks. "Vanille…that was…that was an undescribable feeling. It was incredible!"

"Incredible?" She gave Fang a soft slap in the face. "You know what could have happened?" Again she threw her hands around Fangs neck.

"Now don't you worry. You know you'll never loose me." She smirked. "But you really have to try that. You can cast this on yourself?"

"FANG!"

* * *

Lightning appeared with Snow round the corner. "Hey…everything all right here? We thought we heard someone screaming?"

Fang and Vanille didn't listen as they were lost in a passionate kiss. Both Lightning and Snow immediately turned away.

"God damnit, Snow! I told you they would be enjoying themselves again!"

Snow contorted his face.

"C'mon, we should go."

Snow took a glampse again at the two pulsian ladies. He raised his hat. _Man…it really is getting hot in here_. _Now I have to use that damn toilet._ And off he went. As Lightning began to disappear around the corner she faced the two lovers again and stared into Fang's crystal clear eyes.

Sazh finally made it out of the men's room. Hope was with him. "Man, Sazh. Does it always take that long for you to finish?"

"What? So what the hell did you do all the time?"

"I…I just had to relax a little bit and with a waterfall by my side…it helped a lot."

Sazh rolled his eyes. _There really is something wrong with this kid_. They marched on to Lightning who lay again on the bench.

* * *

Meanwhile, Fang and Vanille appeared round the corner, hand in hand.

"Woah, Fang. You look like prospering life! You just couldn't keep your hands off each other, eh?

"Oh, you have no idea, Sazh."

Lightning looked at the sky, lost in thoughts, while the others joined her on the opposite bench. Hope was the last one standing. "H…hey, Light. Could you please move your legs a little bit so I can sit down, too?" Still looking at the sky, she slowly tucked up her long legs to make room for the little boy. Hope glanced at her black hot pants.

_Oh my god! Don't look, you pervert_! Hope immediately focused on his hands. He then slowly sat down next to Lightning and stared at the others.

"Hey...you ok, Hope? You seem a little…hot?"

Hope frowned. _Did she really just said that?_ Suddenly, he felt as Lightning rested her legs on his lap. He froze immediately and felt everything going stiff down below. He stared at her legs. _Those long and extremely hot legs of hers._

"Hope...hey, Hope!" Fang gave Hope a little slap on the back of his head so that his daydream was torned to pieces. Hope still stood in front of the table but Lightning had already sat herself straight to give him the proper space. "C'mon, Hope. Stop dreaming and sit down!"

_Damnit!_ "O...okay."

Everybody was gathered around the table, which stood in between the two benches.

"Ok, so far. Our ride went rather well." Snow clasped his hands.

"True...and we passed a couple of cars on our way and they could have regonized us. Guess we're lucky so far but we really should look out for a new vehicle."

"Of course, Sazh! Well…in about sixty miles…there is a the rest stop you mentioned earlier. We might find something there."

"Better be. And we definitely have to get some food. I'm starving here."

_I need a drink!_ Hope leaned back and tilted his head backwards. He put his hand above his mouth and cast a light water-spell. _Damn...this stuff is good._ He looked at the others. "Everyone else thirsty?"


	8. The rest stop

**A/N: Woah...first of all. So sorry that it nearly took one week for the next chapter. I kinda lost the 2nd part of this chapter and had to rewrite all of it. And when I finished, I wasn't really satisfied with it and rewrote it again. Still...this chapter looks a little messy and kinda rushed^^. Please forgive me for that.  
**

**Sooo...nothing more to say up to this point.**

**As always...thanks again for all the reviews and keep up the fun :D**

Chapter 8

„All right...enough dallied!" Snow pouned his fists on the table. "Time to move!"

"Do you always have to be so aggressive?" Hope asked, looking at the yellow-hair giant with incomprehension.

"What?…I'm not aggressive!"

"Yes, you totally are. Always showing your fist around into any possible direction and screaming Serah's name like a lunatic." Vanille added with a natural smile.

"C'mon…you're overreacting here! That is just way out of context."

"Oh, cut it already! We shouldn't waste our time with this nonsense." Lightning urged, on whose face delineated the slightly features of a smile. _Oh, but this is so true. _"The rest stop still is about twenty to thirty minutes away but we should make it without further trouble." _I hope…anything can happen with these guys right now._

_

* * *

_The l'Cie fugitives decided to get rid of their Eidolons once they were about a mile away from the rest stop. Due to the enourmous heat, Hope was occupied in casting water into everyone's hands for the next ten minutes. _I think I'm slowly running out of ammo here_.

The site was surrounded by the mere infinity of the desert landscape and the slightly emerging, fairly weak, sandstorms, whose pungent dust threatened to engulf the buildings. The sun, although disappeared behind a few clouds, kept forcing it's rays down to earth. The star's orange-coloured light bathed the rest stop into a mystic glimmer, being enhanced by the fog out of dust. It looked derelict and abandoned under these circumstances but Lightning counted at least eighteen cars, when she examined the parking area.

The rest stop consisted of a little restaurant, more of a fast food restaurant than a common one, a service and fueling station, a car dump and a car workshop.

"Hmm…lot of activity here."

"Did you expect something else, Snow?" Sazh reckoned, tapping on Snow's shoulder.

_Oh, god. No time for another useless discussion._ "Okay…I think we better split up. I take a look around for a car. Two of you should take care of the supplies while the others stay outside to watch for PSICOM soldiers or any kind of suspicous activities. Let's go!"

Snow raised his arms. "Hold on, hold on, Light! This is going a little too fast for me. Don't you think we should talk about this?"

"What's your problem now? We just did!"

"Yeah…he's right, girl! You just rattled off the usual text of your's…we go there, we do this…yada yada yada." Fang simulated a talking Lightning with her hand.

Hope stood himself in front of their leader. "Don't you dare making fun of Lightning!"

_Aww…isn't he just cute?_ Vanille grabbed Fang by her arm. "Behave, Fang! You want Lightning to get mad?"

_Wow…they never talked to me that way. Am I really that dispositive?_ She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Ok, Fang! Once we're back on the road, we'll have a talk, all right?"

"Ah…you're just so stubborn, you cute little strawberry."

_Strawberry?_ "What did you just say?"

"Now that's all sweet and funny…but we shouldn't forget that we take high risks walking around here." Sazh interviened.

"You know, man? Just like you…I feel so starved…I'm about to take the risk. I can take care of the supplies!" Snow put his fist into the air. "Who's with me?"

"I am!"

_Tch…Fang and Snow? Wonder how long that will work. _"Okay, then. So let's go!" Lightning looked into their staring faces and put up a brief smile. "…okay?"

They hurried to the gas station, while Hope stayed behind with Lightning. "H…hey, Light. I need to tell you something."

"What is it, Hope?"

* * *

Snow and Fang slowly entered the gas station while Sazh and Vanille waited outside at the gas pumps, looking around. Snow, with his hands in his jacket pockets and his face buried behind his collar, couldn't look any more suspicious. That didn't go unnoticed by Fang.

_God…this looks so funny._ "Damnit, Snow. Relax already!"

"I…I can't. I don't know why but I'm just too nervous." Snow kept looking around and the bar of suspicion was about to explode.

_This can't be happening!_ She shook her head. "You want to wait outside?"

"Oh yes, please!"

_Pff…wimp! _"Get your ass out and get Vanille in here!"

"Thanks!" Snow left the station, still looking around like someone who deliberately forgot to pay for his goods and approached the others outside.

"Hey there Snow. Now that was fast."

"Yeah, well…uhm…Fang needs your help with something, Vanille. And I think you can do more than I can."

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing wrong. Guess she has to talk with you about something."

_Yeah, right. So we have to do the work again._ "Hmm…okkaayy." Vanille hopped away to the station, leaving Sazh and Snow behind.

"Okay, Snow. What happened…really? You didn't stay long."

"Oh, it was terrible!"

* * *

"So, Light. I wanted to say…I thought…maybe we should call my dad."

"Call him? Hope, you know it's…"

"C'mon, Light! This here is of no use. We stray around the whole time and our Eidolons run dry sooner or later and then we're stuck here anyway."

_Where does this negativity now come from?_ "Hope…"

"He can get us out of this shithole!"

_Now when exactly did he start to curse?_

"I just can't take this stuff anymore!" The young boy sat down on the ground and shook his head.

_What is this now? Is he having his five minutes or what?_ Lightning kneeled down slowly. "Listen, Hope…"

"I…I just can't anymore…"

_What is wrong with him all of a sudden?_ "Hope…c'mon, I know it's been hard for you and you should have never been put into this situation but you've been so brave through our journey. You know, it's not a question of…"

"Yeah, yeah…been there, done that…next."

_Did he questioned me just like Fang did before? Now I'm really starting to get angry._

"S…sorry, Light! It was wrong to say that. I'm sorry."

_Ah, you really just can't stand angry at this kid._ "Hope...c'mon, you stay with me now!" Lightning helped him on his small feet and they headed towards the car workshop.

"…and Hope?…Thanks."

"For what?"

"The way you stood up for me. It was really cute." _Not that I couldn't handle Fang_. She fondled his cheek softly and Hope slightly blushed.

"Oh…ahem…it was nothing, Light! I'm always there for you…no matter what." He slowly took her hand and they continued to walk.

* * *

They both passed Sazh and Snow at the gas pumps. _Expected that both of the girls ended up doing the shopping. Tz._

"Hey you two. Everything all right?" Snow asked, still with his hands in his jacket pockets.

_He really looks like some kind of drug dealer when he stands like that._ "Yes, we're good!"

"Good to hear, little man! Yo, Light! You know that there is a possibility that we won't get us a car here, right?"

"Yeah…that thought really did cross my mind so you better check your Eidolons! How much Summon Points have you left, Snow?"

Snow took his blue, shining crystal out of his jacket pocket. "Hmm…about 53 per cent left. This should do it for the next two or three hours."

"How about you, Sazh?"

"82."

Snow frowned. "82? How is it possible that you have 82 per cent left? I drove much slower than you!"

"C'mon, Snow. We all know that Shiva really isn't the strongest and the most persevering of the Eidolons so far."

"Guys...I'm heading to the men's room. I'll be right back." Hope excused himself and disappeared around the corner.

"So what, Sazh? You say that Shiva sucks?"

"Wha…? I didn't say she would suck!" _Wahahaha._ "I just said that she isn't at the top spot in the Eidolon ranking."

"So, which is? Your little girlfriend?"

"Guys, guys…stop already! C'mon Snow. Sazh has a much bigger Eidolon than you. It's just logical that it's stronger."

"Thanks for the support, Light." _And it's not my girlfriend, damnit!_

"Uhm, I…I guess that could make some sense…but how much does Odin have left then?"

_Pff…don't have to check, the way I treated it so far._ But Lightning took her crystal nevertheless and waited for the already known answer. _WHAT? 30 per cent?_

"Light?"

_This has to be a mistake. C'mon, look again._ But the result didn't change. „Ahem...I'm at...65 per cent."

„65? No way in hell your horse still has 65 per cent left? It's tongue already hung out of it's yap when we got to the resting place. Show me!"

_Did he just denounce my Odin?_ Lightning moved back. "Watch your hands, Snow!"

„Leave her alone, man. When she says, that she has 65. Then she has 65, all right? No more questions!"

"Oh yeah, Sazh? And when she'd tell you to jump of a bridge so that you would get a hp boost, you'd do it, right? "

_This nonsense has to stop._ "ENOUGH!" Both of them fell silent and looked at each other constrained. _I have to get out of here. "_You two just stay here and don't try to kill each other!" Lightning went after Hope.

"Hmm…where is Hope actually?" Snow asked, putting his crystal back into his jacket pocket.

"He just said, that he went to the closet. Do you even listen to the people around you or do you just think about the right time to scream a name out loud?"

Lightning could hear another discussion heating up in the back. _And the torture continues. _Hope appeared around the corner but Lightning grabbed him immediately at his collar. "C'mon Hope…we still need our brain."

* * *

They arrived at the car workshop. It was in a terrible condition and it appeared that there had been a fire in this place quiet recently. A few melted tires were welded together in a morbid, grotesquely suggestive mass in the corner. Dim light digging in the dirty windows showed the shape of a pay phone wall unit. The front desk was empty and nobody responded to the bell. Lightning banged it again.

"All right. Just let's wait a little longer."

"H…hey, Light! Have I ever told you that I had a dream about you?"

_He did what?_ "What was that?"

"Yeah...I dreamed about you."

_He what? A dream of me? What gives him the idea to say that now? _"Uhm…Hope…"

„Ah...don't worry, Light! It wasn't naughty or obscene…" He looked into the ceiling and rubbed with his fingers over his mouth. "…although…"

_Although?_ "Hope? What the hell is the meaning of this?"

"Yeah, well…"

"Hope…tell me!" _Wait! Do I even want to know?_

„Ah...it's a little emberassing but..."

Hope was unable to finish his sentence as one of the mechanics appeared.

"Howdy. How can I help?"

Lightning still was lost in thought because of what Hope just said.

"Uhm…Miss?"

Lightning shook her head and cleared her throat. "Ahem…yeah, hi…"

"Hi there. So what can I do for you?"

"Me and my little brother here had a breakdown about 3 miles from here. We already contacted the breakdwon service but we're kind of in a hurry to get to the wedding of our sister."_ God, that sounded lame. _"Sooo…you don't happen to know if there is a used car or something we could buy for a couple of gil around here?"

The mechanic leaned over the desk. "Hmm, define a couple of gil!"

_Holy, there really might be a car here._ "Well…about 400 maybe?" _That better be enough._

The mechanic began to laugh.

_Great, of course. And more money is about to go down the drain._

"Come with me."

Lightning and Hope looked at each other wondering. They shrugged and followed him.

* * *

The others meanwhile retreated onto a bench outside and enjoyed the food.

"Hey…don't you think we should wait for Lightning and the silver boy?" Snow asked, his mouth already repleted.

"C'mon…they are busy right now? They will be here shortly."

"What you mean "they are busy"? God, Fang...you're such a pig!"

"What the…? You always have to think something nasty? Now you rather leave that to me. No, they are looking for the car, you fool!"

Snow slapped himself slightly on his forehead. "Oh yeah…right. Sorry, I forgot."

"Guess your hat is pressing too much on your brain."

"Very funny. But c'mon…Hope and Lightning really have a special relationship, don't you think?"

"We figured that out, too."

"Yeah…it's just...it was two weeks ago where she left the poor kid behind at the Vile Peaks."

"That's true. Glad that Vanille and I found him not too long after." Sazh mumbled.

"Poor Hope. Lightning was soo mean. I should have kicked her ass back there!" Vanille concluded, slapping Lightning in her thoughts immediately.

"But Snow…you also have a fairly good relationship with Hope now, considering he wanted you dead just a couple of days ago." Fang rose up from her seat to throw away the trash.

„Who says he discarded the thought?" Sazh smirked.

"Hey c'mon...you don't make jokes about this. It still gives me nightmares."

"Well, I really hope that it stays a dream."

"Yeah…but I think were on a good way here. I just hope his father will forgive me."

Sazh put a hand on his shoulder. "Snow, you know it wasn't your fault what happened to his mother."

"I…I don't know. One side of me tells me that I did everything in my power but the other side just keeps saying that I could have done more."

"We know your one of the good guys, Snow. You did everything you could."

He sighed. "I'm glad I have you here with me. You support me , right?"

"Anytime, man."

Suddenly a car stops right besides them. "Hey guys…you need a ride?"

Everybody looked at the monster, coughing and spitting right next to them.

"Hope?"

"C'mon..get in already!" Hope said, leaning out of the passenger seat's window.

The car was in a desolate condition, even worse than the car workshop itself. Snow needed three attempts to open the back door and broke of the latch when he succeeded. Lightning barreled off the driveway onto the highway, once everybody settled in, leaving a trail of smoke and dust behind.

* * *

"200 gil? You paid 200 gil for this, Light?"

"What? You're complaining now, Snow?"

"Well, no…I mean…as far as I see it…this isn't even worth 20." He rubbed against the window, covered in dust and it started to crack. _Whoops, hopefully noone saw that._

"Yeah we didn't have much options but in the end…it's safer that way."

"It's not that we aren't used to these standarts, right?" Sazh laughed.

"Just have to pray that the car will hold up at least for a couple of hours."

"More than enough." Hope mumbled.

"Huh?" Vanille leaned towards him.

"Oh, nothing."

"I hope you still have something to eat back there."

"Of course, Light!" Fang searched through one of the bags. "Here…I bought a special lollypop for you. But first...guess what the taste is."


	9. The Natrix

**A/N: Oh my, oh my. Again, I have to apologize. The latency now seems to increase with every new chapter as I got caught up a little with some other stuff. So at least I hope you will enjoy each new chapter more and more, hehe :D**

**Thanks for all the support so far and many thanks for all the reviews, all the readers, fav's and alert's. Should have mentioned that much earlier. Sorry for that^^**

**Without anything more to add. Let the story continue...enjoy! ;)**

Chapter Nine

_A lollypop?...Really? _Accompanied by a flimsy moan, Lightning gradually took the sweet out of Fang's hand. _What the hell is wrong with her wasting our money with this stuff?_ She held the candy in front of her and surveyed it carefully, still keeping an eye on the road to avoid any unpleasant surprises. _And it's strawberry…well, take a freaking guess._ "Oh Fang. You always know how to cheer me up, don't you?"

"Oh it's nothing, sweety." Fang waved her hand and smirked. "You know I always know what's best for you."

"But please don't tell me that that's the only thing left to eat."

Worried and irritated of not getting an immediate answer, Lightning tilted her head to the side and found Snow's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Snow! Prepare yourself to walk back and get something else!"

Snow frowned and put his hat straight. _Did I hear just right?_ "Whoa…what?" _Oh crap, now what did I do again?_ Lightning's gaze was locked on him. Snow began to pull at Fang's arm, begging for help as he knew that tone in her voice too well. _Why do I always have to draw the shortest straw?_

"Easy there, Light. No reason to go all crazy on Snow…again." Fang put on a natural smile. "I just thought of this as a little appetizer. Of course we have more left."

Hope, meanwhile, stared at the candy with big, demanding eyes. _Oh, that's strawberry!…I love strawberry._ The little boy watched Lightning closely, who still looked at the lollypop as if it was something she had never seen before. _Oh my god! That look on her face...just hilarious. _He gently tapped her on the shoulder. _She doesn't look to convinced anyway. Guess she doesn't want it. _"H...hey, Light!" He had trouble to restrain his laughter. "Can I have it? I just love these things." He clasped his hands. "Please!"

"Uhm, yeah…sure, Hope. I hope this doesn't break your heart, Fang." She handed it to him. "Here you go."

"Yay." Hope wrenched the candy from her hand and seemed to forget everything around him immediately.

"Pff...you've always been so ungrateful, Light." Fang reached into the bag to get one of the topped rolls. "But we can't let you die of starvation. Here!" She threw it on Lightning's lap.

"C'mon! Be careful with the food!" Lightning gently removed the plastic sheet with one hand and started to eat.

Nobody spoke for the next couple of minutes as they listened to Lightning's soft smacking. Snow, who sat alone on the back row, leaned forward. "So Light…how much money do we actually have left?"

"Something about 5.000 gil I'd say."

"Holy…five grand?" Snow leaned back on his seat and sighed. "I'd thought we would be pretty shy of money now. Really 5.000?" _Man, that's just too good to be true but I guess Heroes don't have to worry about these things._

_Tch…oh Snow. Probably has another one of his silly sayings coming up. _"Of course not, you fool! We barely have over 300 here."

Snow's smile slowly disappeared and he pulled his hat over his face. _Yeah…Heroes my ass._

"Don't worry, guys." Hope mumbled still with the candy in his mouth. "We'll make it. My father has money and he's going to help us out." _Mhm…strawberry is just the best. _He glanced at Lightning._ Hmm, I wonder. Would she taste like this, too? _He stared at her with sharp eyes. _Hmmm…_

_

* * *

_The hours past by as they continued their trip without further incidents. Vanille had snuggled up to Fang and slept deeply. Little Hope, who had changed places with Sazh, had snuggled up to Fang from the other side and slept with his head on her lap. Snow had snuggled up to the small window on his side and tried his best to get some sleep.

Sazh's gaze passed over his sleeping companions. "Oh man, they look so peaceful." He nodded to Lightning. "Just look at Hope and the girls. Isn't it cute?"

"Yeah! Time to find them a room, I guess."

"Oh girl, that's just nasty."_ Oh yeah, Light. Guess you'd like it. _

The sun was slowly on it's way to disappear behind the extensive hilly landscape when Lightning pulled over to a small resting place and left the wheel to Sazh.

"You afraid of driving in the dark, Light?" Sazh asked with a smile, as he leaned against the car on the driver's side, resting both his arms on the roof. He looked into the sky as the reddish light of the setting sun gave the landscape a countenance of an inferno looming over it.

"You afraid of walking in the dark?"

Sazh lifted both his arms. "All right, all right. Just a little joke." He could see that she was tired, as he looked into her glassy eyes. They both entered the car and Sazh drove back onto the highway. Lightning leaned back against her seat and watched the flaming inferno. It lasted for a couple of more minutes before the sky turned dark. Threatening – and yet beautiful, as Lightning thought. Her eyes were burning and didn't want to stay open.

Sazh raised his eyes to the dark sky. The moon defined a full circle and the stars did theirs to encase the sinister landscape into a calming light. "What a beautiful sky, isn't it?"

"Yeah but I don't think it's going to stay that way."

Sazh agreed as he spotted the brewing storm in the distance. The shattering blast of a thundering echo then pierced through the silence shortly after.

"I think you better switch on the windshield wipers."

Another blast and raindrops began to fleck the windshield. The drizzle quickly became a rainstorm as nature had burst into tears over the dry and degenerate land. Sazh switched on the windshield wipers, slapping away the splashing water. _I just hope they are going to persevere._ He watched the wipers slowly breaking their way through the water with all their power. The first thunderbolts flashed across the gloomy sky, followed by another roaring din. Although tired, Lightning couldn't stop to stare through the window into the gloom and emptiness. It seemed as if the darkness and the rainstorm tried to cover the desolation of the world outside.

"Yo Light! Guess you should feel at home here, right?" Sazh said with a friendly smile.

She didn't answer him as the smiling face of her sister flashed through her mind. She slowly brought her hands to her necklace and embraced it tightly, her eyes pinched. With a lump in her throat, she began to shiver slightly. _Serah!_

Sazh felt a sudden shift of atmosphere "C'mon, Light! What's eating you?" He looked at Lightning who slowly rubbed her necklace. "Is it about Serah?"

"Am I that transparent?"

Sazh noticed the strict tone in her voice. He slowly lowered his head and tried to give a proper answer but didn't know what to say. "I...I'm sorry."

"But yeah…you're right." Lightning took a deep breath. "Serah always said the same thing when there was a thundersturm and made fun of me this way. " She glanced at her necklace. "Always called me stupid for changing my name. Can you imagine I nearly slapped her once?"

Sazh rubbed his neck. "I think you should have picked another name, you know?" _Something like...pink fury, iceflower...or tornado. Yeah...a tornado doesn't happen too often._

She shook her head and closed hey eyes. "To think that there might be chance that I will never hear her say..."

"Don't you even go there, Light!" Sazh interrupted. "We'll find her. We still have some time left to finish our focus and to get her back. Her and Dajh."

_Dajh!_ Lightning never really cared much for the little boy at the beginning. Her primary focus was always her sister and she knew she'd sacrifice everything to get her back home. But as time drew on and she had learned more and more about Sazh's past, she couldn't stop to feel with him. As if loosing his wife wasn't already bad enough, he had to deal with his son becoming a l'Cie. She always admired his positive attitude throughout their journey, even in times he could have just folded up. And although Serah was still her top priority, she was at a point where she would consider their "mission" a failure if they weren't able to safe Sazh's son, too. "Sazh...how do you find it so easy...always to stay positive?"

"It's not always easy, Light! But with you and the others around, I just know that I'm not alone here...at least I hope so." He smiled briefly. "And the same goes for you. I know that you carry quite the entire burden on your shoulder but it's time to hand off some of this. You're not walking this road alone!"

"But I should! You and the others never were supposed to get dragged into this mess. What have I brought to you all besides grief and sorrow? No, this IS my fault and I should be held responsible for this!"

_C'mon, she's going to make my cry if she continues to talk like that._ "I tell you something, Light. Once all of this is over...you will get your chance of redemption by buying a round in the next best topless bar."

"Oh Sazh…" She began to laugh. "That is just so stupid and typical! What a way to ruin a sentimental moment."

Sazh rubbed his neck again and grinned. "Yeah, I'm sorry but at least I got a smile out of you. You got me worried here. I just don't like to see you like this."

"Yeah. That was always your greatest gift. Telling jokes in the most inappropriate situations."

"Hey…but they seem to work, right?" He looked at Lightning, who folded her arms around her chest.

"Sometimes."

"Ahh, you see. Never lose that sense of humor."

"Yeah and you should never lose your focus when you're driving."

A splash of headlights flooded the front seat. Sazh let out a hysterical scream as he realized that he had drifted onto the oncoming lanes. The windshield was awashed with the twin headlamps of the eighteen-wheeler rig. He spinned the steering wheel, swerving wildly onto the right side of the road. The semitrailer thundered past and shuddered the car's suspension in it's afterblow.

_Holy shit! _Sazh gasped for breath. "Damnit, that was close!" He glanced at the rearview mirrow to see the red and amber warning lights of the truck receding into the darkness. He blinked and slapped himself. _Stay focused, old man! _He took his view to Lightning."I…I'm sorry, Light."

Lightning answered with another slap, thinking that one wasn't enough. _Way too close damnit! _Sazh rubbed his cheek and she could hear, as he mumbled some incomprehensible words with his lips but they were too quiet for her to understand.

All other occupants were rudely awakened because of the hellish noise. Everyone except Snow, who still played the symphony of the lonely lumberjack in the tropical rain forest.

"Hey guys. What the hell was that noise? I heard someone scream." Hope said, rubbing his eyes.

Sazh and Lightning both looked at each other. Sazh began to speak. "Oh, it was just a train. Nothing to worry about…and the car seems to be a little unstable with all those blasts. Ahem...mind if I turn on the radio? Guys?"

Noone objected.

Sazh pressed on different buttons until the display enlightened in a blue light. _Oh yes...country. Exaclty what I need right now._ Sazh leaned back on his seat and hummed softly with the music, the fingers of his left hand tapping idly on the steering wheel.

_Hey, I know this song. _Lightning crossed her legs and slowly wiggled her foot to the music as she sang along in her mind.

The weather, meanwhile, got worse and worse and Sazh had to slow down because of the miserable sight. _Man, I can't see shit!_ He sighed with relief as a signpost appeared out of the void. **Next Stop: The Natrix.**

"Hey, maybe we can rest there for a little while." Sazh kept a lid on the red, blinking light on the dashboard. "We're running out of gas here anyway and I can hardly see anything in these conditions."

„Hey, what's this?" Vanille pointed at the light beams, which loomed in the far distance.

"Well, I guess that's our next stop." Lightning answered. _I pray they have a gas station there. This place sounds like a flophouse._

Fang leaned forward to Sazh and Lightning to have a better view. "Oh my. Now this looks interesting."

Snow still snored like a world champion in the background.

* * *

Their faces were shined on by the glittering and enormous neon sign, wall-mounted on the lonesome building. The back and forth swinging flood lights, positioned on the roof, were accompanied by constantly recurring flamestrikes.

The rain rattled against the panes with mere frenetic force as Sazh slowly steered the car onto the compound. "All right. I see some gas pumps back there. Guess it's our lucky day."

Dozens of cars, choppers and motorhomes were parked out in front and some figures weaved into view.

"Hmm, I guess someone here must have had a drop too much." Sazh carefully drove around them.

Three more figures came out of the building and banged against the panes as they ran past the car. Snow woke up miraculously. Slightly dizzy, the roaring sound of rain and thunder immediately hit him like a sledgehammer. _Ah, my ears!_ Shaken up by the noise, he looked around. "Hey, where are we guys?"

Hope turned around as he was the only one who heard him. "Oh, look who finally decided to rise from the dead!"

Vanille came closer to Fang, who stared at the closing door of the building. "There definitely is some party going on in there."

"What kind of place is this?" Vanille asked.

"Some kind of dance club, maybe?...I don't know but it sure as hell looks like a lot of fun. Although the presentation here seems a little bit outdated."

"All right, guys. Stay calm and don't freak out." Lightning looked at Sazh. "Just head for the gas pumps."

The illumination outside brightened as the neon sign changed it's inscription and showed a logo of three women.

**Tough times demand tough measures. Today's live band: neoNOIRE featuring The Gullwings.**

**20% discount on all beverages. Including mouth-to-mouth serving.**

**No law & no morale. Lose all inhibitions.**

"You read this, Vanille? We are so going to check this place out!" Fang squezzed Vanille's hand.

"I don't like this at all."

"Figures. When is there something you like, Light?"

They arrived at the sheltered gas pumps and the sand on the ground grated under the rubber of the tires, as they gradually came to a full stop. Sazh turned around and looked at the building. "Well, I've been to many places but this just takes the freaking cake."

"Then you clearly haven't been to many places!" Fang said, still looking at the building. _Although the sign there sounds promising._

"Ok, stop with the bitchery. How are we going to do this?"

"Ok, Light. I'd say I stay back to fill up the car while the others can already go inside and check out this place. Just to get sure that no PSICOM soldiers are there or something like that." Sazh suggested.

"Hmm, maybe we should just wait inside the car until the storm clears away."

"Well you can sit here and twiddle your thumbs all day, Light!" Fang grabbed Vanille's wrist. "C'mon, let's go." She opened the door and they both got out of the car.

"Damnit, Fang!" Lightning exited the vehicle onto the impregnated ground. "Fang, wait!"

"Oh, now you're coming? Let's move before we get too wet out here." Fang and Vanille continued to run towards the entrence.

_God, they act so stupid and illogical._ "Sazh, we meet you and the others inside." Lightning then began to rush after the two pulsian ladies.

Sazh sighed as he saw the ex-soldier running away. "Now this is already a good start."

Snow, who had already left the car, moved on to Sazh's door and opened it. "C'mon Sazh. Time to join the others to prevent them from doing anything stupid. I'll take care of the car."

_So I better should stay here, then?_ "You sure, Snow?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"I'll help him."

"You see? Now with Hope's support...what can happen now?"

"Well, if you say so." Sazh exited the car and ran after the others.

"And order something for us!" Snow screamed.

"You probably should have been a little more detailed about that." Hope said, standing beside Snow.

Although the ground was mushy and greasy because of the rain, Sazh had little problems breezing over it. He met Lightning, Fang and Vanille right in front of the entrence. "Puh..." He gasped for breath. "Glad I got to you in time."

"Snow and Hope still at the car?"

"Yes. They'll join us as soon as they finished up."

"God, that sounds so dirty!"

"All right, Fang. We just pretend that we didn't catch your last words. Let's get inside!"

"Sorry, Light. I just couldn't resist."

Vanille looked around, rubbing her chin. "I wonder why there is no bouncer."

"You seriously wonder too much, Vanille. Is that really relevant right now?"

Vanille wondered one last time and headed with her lover towards the entrence. Green light shined into their eyes as they opened the door. Everybody entered as Lightning turned her head to take a look at the figures of Hope and Snow. She sighed. _Somehow…I have a bad feeling about this…again_. She then entered the building.

* * *

The music now played near an eardrum-bursting level. A tremendous crowd gathered around the stage and danced to the music. The house was packed and nearly everybody sang and screamed while the singer, all dressed in black, hopped around to the beat.

"Wow. Now this is what I call party hard." Sazh screamed. "C'mon ladies. Look for a free table. I'm going to the bar and tell the guy there that they have new costumers."

The three of them moved across the group of bistro tables. Vanille pulled herself closer to Fang as she attracted some glances from some of the men. Lightning surveyed the surroundings. The sidewalls were furnished with umpteen alcoves with cozy sitting and small tables. There were surprisingly no windows at all in this place. The semicircular dance floor was illuminated by the big, beautiful disco ball and it's lightning effects. Nearly all the pool tables were abused by customers who danced on them. No PSICOM soldiers or other threads were to be seen.

The man behind the bar eyed Sazh when he approached the bar.

"Oh. A new costumer. Welcome to the Natrix. What can I get you? Oh...and I like your guns but please don't use them in here before midnight."

"Uhm...okkaayy." _Now that was weird. "_Yeah…I'm here with some of my friends." He pointed back to the three girls who seemed to have found an unoccupied table. "Just wanted to order something to drink...but we'll get more company soon."

The bartender looked at the girls. "Oh yeah. With my greatest pleasure. Please take a sit. I will take your order myself."

"All right." _Hmm...is Hope even allowed to enter this place? I wonder why noone thought about that._ "Oh, one brief question. Uhm...is there an age limit in this place?"

"The Natrix only has one principle: As long as you have money and thirst, you're old enough."

_This place is getting better and better._ "Sorry to ask another question but how much are the drinks by the way? It wasn't immediately obvious on the sign outside."

"10 gil per drink. No matter what you take."

"You sir…have a new patron." Sazh shook the bartender's hand and joined the others at the table. "All right. Someone is coming shortly to take our order."

The song in the background was on it's final spurt and the crowd clapped frenetically. The bartender didn't take long to appear. "Hello and welcome to the Natrix, my friends. It's always nice to see new young people full of vim and vigor. What can I get you?"

* * *

Snow finished up fueling the car and closed the filler cap while he hooked in the delivery hose. "Okay, where do we actually pay for this?"

Hope, who sat inside the car, pointed at one of the gas pumps. "There is a note. You might want to read it." _You can't tell me he didn't see this._

"Oh..." Snow rubbed his neck. _Silly me!_ "Now let's see."

**Payment inside.**

"Okay then." Snow rushed around the car and slowly got on. "Let's get this bad boy into a safe place." He slowly reversed and parked the vehicle on one of the remaining, unused parking lots.

Hope was very surprised to see both Fang's and Vanille's weapons laying on the back seat. _Hmm, they completely must have forgotten about them as they stormed into the house. Are you even allowed to take weapons in there? _

"Hey, little man. You all right?" Snow asked with an alarming voice.

"Uhm, yeah. Why do you ask?"

„Well, I thought you might be scared with a weather like that. You know…all the noise and those lightnings. Kinda scary, no?"

_Is he serious right now? Well, now that should be fun. _Hope clasped his hands and looked at them. "Hmm...well...you know...yeah. Now that you mention it. I really would feel better if you held me in your strong arms, Snow." Hope then leaned forwards and gently fodled Snow's shoulder.

_What the hell? _Snow froze immediately as Hope's touch sent cold shivers up and down his spine. "Ahem...you know, Hope. I think you handle yourself quite well." _Man, this kid is so messed up._ "C'mon. Let's go to the others."

They exited the car simultaneously and ran towards the building. With his hat pulled down low over his face, Snow stumbled every now and then and fell to the ground. _Oh man, figures._

Hope shook his head. _Oh lord!_ He helpt him up on his feet.

„Man...look at my coat. It's wasted."

"You want to wait outside until it's clean or you want to throw into the car?" _Or just throw it onto the ground because it doesn't look good anyway._

"Let's go with the car."

They hasted back to the vehicle with quick steps.

* * *

„All right. So we have four potion lemon, one soda and one strawberry shake. Anything else?"

"You serve some food here?" Sazh asked.

"Oh yeah. The best in Cocoon."

Lightning turned away and mumbled. "Somehow I doubt that."

"All right. You have Nachos Deluxe?"

"Extra hot?"

"Just medium. We have to think of the ladies here."

"All right. Coming right up."

The next song was about to start and the crowd started to scream as the, all dressed in white, leadsinger entered the stage.

"Oh Vanille. It's getting a little dreary here. You wanna join them?"

"Hell yeah."

"Light? Sazh?"

"Sorry, ladies but I need a few of those potions to get going."

"There isn't even alcohol in those!"

"Sugar has the same effect on me."

"Aha. What about you Light?"

"Well, I prefer not to get sandwiched in there."

"Oh Light...always dirty thoughts, eh? Well…you are always welcome to join us." She blew Lightning a kiss and moved with Vanille to the dancefloor.

"Seriously…what is it between you and Fang?" Sazh asked._ Just thinking about those two together...priceless._

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Sazh started to clap as the new song began.

_God, I need my shake right now! What's taking so long? _Lightning looked across the room to see the bartender talking with two customers who sat at the bar. Although she could only see the back of those two figures, one of them looked very familiar but she couldn't tell wherefrom. _Hmm... _It then hit her, as the bartender pointed in her direction and the two figures turned around. _Ah shit! _The two of them got off their bar stools and moved rapidly towards their table, accompanied by the bartender. Lightning's eyes widened as she saw them approaching. "Hey, Sazh. Sazh! Come back to earth!" She slowly brought her hand to her gunblade.

Sazh slowly took his view to Lightning. "What is it?"

"We got trouble coming up!"

He saw as Lightning gaze wandered above his head. Sazh knew that look in her eyes too well. _We really can't catch a break, can we?_ "Ok. How many?"

"Three." Lightning turned her head around to look for Fang and Vanille but they had disappeared somewhere in the cherring crowd. _Damnit!_

The three men stopped right behind Sazh.

„Ok, Archie. These guys here responsible for what happened in your store?"

„Yeah...this bitch here is responsible for my new look and this son of a bitch here...!" He nudged Sazh. "This son of a bitch here just watched the entire time and couldn't stop laughing."

„Okay...get them." Meanwhile, the band had finished their song and the clapping crowd slowly became silent as they had paid their tribute.

The tall guy next to the bartender grabbed Sazh at his neck and pulled him up, a knife in his right hand.

„Hey, what the hell..." Sazh gasped for air and could already see the knife at his throat.

Lightning immediately jumped to her feet with her gun pulled out and fired. The bullet roared through the air towards the big guy's heart. He was thrown back under the force of it and was dead before he reached the ground. Sazh briefly screamed as his hand went up to the little gash at his throat.

The entire room silenced and the only thing to hear was the cartouche rolling on the floor.

"What the...that sounded like Light's gun!" Fang and Vanille slowly squeezed through the crowd. _Please be wrong!_

Her gun locked on Archie and the bartender, Lightning slowly turned her head and could see as six more figures assembled behind her.

* * *

Hope and Snow were right in front of the entrence.

"Holy, did you hear that, Hope?"

"That sounded like Lightning's gun!"

"Oh hell no. What did happen this time?" _Hopefully she's drunk and just shoots around wildly._


	10. A fistful of bullets

**A/N: To begin my three-part apology^^, just let me say that you all are wonderful people for sticking so far with this crazy, little story; for reviewing, for alerting and for favoring. Many thx also to the reviewer wo mentioned that "percent" mistake back in Chapter 8. At the time I wrote this chapter, I was like: percent or per cent. Of course I had to take the wrong one^^. When I released Chapter 9 about two months ago (O_O), I was in the middle of my final exams but didn't mention anything because I though it wouldn't take that long to deal with it. Terrible mistake! So I was, more or less, distracted for a couple of weeks and after having finished all the school stuff...I hit terrible writers block. It just went like: BANG...what the hell do I write now; although I mentioned in an earlier chapter where I wanted to head. It also wasn't that easy to actually write a fight scene.**

**But long story short, we're back with the 10th Chapter and this contains, as previously said, my first ever little battle scene. So I hope you guys can forgive me for not updating in all those weeks. I'm so sorry for this but I worked hard to get back on track (yes, true^^) and want to especially thank the lovely and amazing Lady Midday for helping me with it. **

**So during the battle scene, I switch between the characters and want to show what each of them is going through. I basically jumple them up and have them act parallel.**

**Just a little recap before we start:**

**The cast wants to take a rest at a bar. Snow and Hope are still outside and are about to enter. Meanwhile, Lightning & Co. stumble over Archie, the store keeper from the earlier chapters whose store went up in flames, inside the bar and trouble is about to unfold as the former storekeeper wants to take revenge with two of his guys. One of them attacks Sazh but Lightning shoots the attacker rather quickly.  
**

**So this is where the story continues and I hope you will enjoy this long overdue chapter ;)**

Chapter 10

The storm outside became increasingly stronger; monstrous thunderclouds positioned themselves above the compound as several outside standing cars and motorcycles were coated sidewards with the awhirled layer of mud. Snow had noticeably trouble to keep his hat straight on his head as he slowly grasped at the rusted doorknob of the seemingly oversized entrance door. He encompassed the handle and pushed it gingerly downward as if he tried to prevent any kind of noice.

_What the hell is he doing? What's taking him so long?_ "C'mon man, what the hell are you waiting for?" Hope, completely drenched by now, screamed to drown out the raging thunderstorm.

But Snow drew his hand back and wiped over his mouth with it. He had to think about a potential situation, involving a drunk Lightning Farron. _C'mon, does she even drink? _"Well, to be exact…I thought…"

"What is there to think about? They could be in deep trouble there! We have to go, NOW!"

Snow got more and more nervous and interlocked his hands the way which would have made Hope proud. _God, this is so stupid_. "Of course, but maybe…maybe you should go first!"

Hope looked at him in a shocking manner. "What?"

"Yeah, c'mon. I…I'll have your back!" Snow smirked slightly embarrassed and tapped softly against Hope's shoulder.

"I should be the one to go in there first? I'm just fourteen, you wuss! What's going to happen when some freaks in there start to charge at me out of nowhere?" His voice started to get slightly threatening. "It was you who babbled all the time about being a hero and saving everyone!"

"Yeah...and you were the one who kicked my ass about it. Did you already forgot how that played out?"

"Snow, you better go in there now before I take my Boomerang and…"

"All right, all right. Geez." Snow put up his hands in defeat. "Calm down, man. I'm going!" _Now when did he become so aggressive? _He sighed._ C'mon, you can do it._

Snow grasped once more at the doorknob, slowly but with much more courage now as he thought about his dramatic hero affectation. Everything bubbled up inside him again. The excitement, the horror, the fear but most of all, the despairing aspiration for a victory. Was it to help out his friends of a possibly precarious situation or to survive a possibly drunk, wildly shooting around Lightning. He closed his eyes and sighed again. _Damn, I should have taken the Boomerang…_ He put his hat straight once more. _I_ _wonder how many of those he actually has and where he stores them…_

_

* * *

_Meanwhile, inside the bar, time seemed to have slowed down. Smoke escaped slowly from the muzzle of Lightning's transformed sword, which she still pointed at the former storekeeper and the bartender. Her previously fired shot still echoed through the enormous room like a thunder for apparently several minutes. Almost all customers, who had sat on their tables, had jumped up from their seats and had backed off to the next best alcove or onto the dance floor. Lightning observed the thus forming crowd from the corner of her eye. The people in it pressed against each other in all possible directions. No one wanted to be in the line of fire. A couple of other customers just kept sitting at their tables and focused on their drinks as if a contingent shootout was the most common thing in this place.

Several figures then crystallized out of the agitated crowd and a few blazed the trail to nearby tables and grabbed several beer bottles or chairs, while others pulled out some knives.

_Now what is their problem?_ Lightning had to smile to herself at this sight. _Don't they see that I am the one with the gun here? What are they trying to do with knives?_

But they didn't let themselves be distracted by Lightning's train of thoughts. They held the knives loosely in their hands and waved around with them for a short moment. "Finally some action!" , one of them dared to say.

They began to lumber slowly, like colossuses, and with every further step, they split up and scattered around Lightning in a semicircle. She scrutinized the dirty, disgusting and unshaved faces of those figures and examined their partly pinched eyes and their unbalanced gait. _Tch, they can barely stand on their own feet. _She knew they wouldn't pose a serious threat_._

She took her view back to Sazh, who still knelt behind their table and pressed against his neck. "Hey, Sazh. You alive?"

_She's trying to be funny now?_ "Y...yeah, yeah. Don't worry. I'm fine. Thanks."

But her slightly, innerly whoops of joy were tarnished quickly as she suddenly heard two guns being cocked. She looked to her side and saw as two of those wranglers had drawn some firearms in addition to their knives and had pointed them at her head. _Just great. Of course… because this would have been way to easy otherwise. _She sighed._ Maybe we should have tried a little diplomacy first. _But she already saw in her mind's eye what was about to come and it would contain, with a high probability, many casualties…injured and dead.

Archie, the former storekeeper, slowly started to clap with his hands and a big grin loomed over his, now lined by scars, face. "Well done, guys." Without paying any attention, he stept over the dead body of his former acquaintance. "But be careful with those guys." He said in an undertone of irony. "They know how to use some…let's call it…mumbo jumbo. But I think they won't try anything stupid now, right?" His eyes locked onto Lightning, he slowly proceeded with a few steps towards her. "But how small the world actually is, don't you agree? I just can't say how lucky I am to run twice into you in the last 48 hours." His voice now oozed with lewdness. "Now you know how it works. Be good and drop your weapon!"

* * *

Fang and Vanille managed to press themselves pass the last frightened or excited customer on the dance floor and were able to see the painful scene. "Oh no…now what happened there again?" Vanille whispered, while Archie started to clap and pulled off his mumbo jumbo line. "She's never going to make it on her own. We have to help her."

"I know that too, my dear!" Fang had already started to look for a potential weapon.

"But how? We don't have our weapons." _God, it was so stupid to burst into this place without thinking. Damn you Fang, you sexy crazy b...  
_

"Ah, don't worry. Just grab the next best chair and clobber someone on his head with it or just scratch their eyes out, you wildcat. Just wait for the right moment."

"When is the right moment?"

But Fang already sidled slowly among the people on the dance floor in the search for one of the barstools. _This will get nasty!_

* * *

_Right...here we go again!_ Lightning let out a deep sigh and dropped her weapon on the floor. But she managed to catch Fang at positioning herself, in the meantime, next to one of the barstools, ready to strike at any moment. Though Lightning knew she had to get rid of the guns pointed at her head first…and fast. She slowly slid her cape over her left leg so that it stood free. She then focused on Sazh and waited for eye contact.

Tottering, Sazh slowly got up on his legs and tried mightily to hide that he was in any pain. But the truth said something different as he had the feeling that his entire body was in flames. Infernal pain emanated from his neck. _What's going on, old man? __This is just a scratch! _He dabbed repeatedly against it and kept checking his fingers about the blood loss.

"Hey, now who said you were allowed to get up?"

But Sazh failed to hear Archie's comment and his snipping fingers as he was still busy to stand firmly. _Guess I'm getting too old for this s…_

Sazh was ripped out if his thoughts as the entrance door was kicked open and the raging thunderstorm resonated through the entire area. The wind shrilled about the room and threatened to explode everyone's eardrum. As in slow motion, Snow stomped into the building and stood still in the middle of the stairs, with his legs apart and both of his hands resting on his hip. _Ok, the hero has finally…_ He scouted around to see that nearly everybody had turned into his direction. _...arriv..._ His gaze wandered to the corpse on the ground and to Lightning, who was surrounded by several gunmen. _Ah, hell..._

Hidden behind Snow, Hope peeked with his head to take a glance to see if his caution was justified. Sweat started to unfold on his forehead when he looked into the room.

"Now look what we have here. I guess you two are here for backup haha?" Archie asked, causing sardonic laughter to arouse.

Firmly standing on his feet, Hope shifted his weight to find a better balance. His left knee began to throb, causing him to clench his teeth. "Uhm...Snow. This looks like real trouble so I think you should just use your…"

* * *

Lightning herself had to smirk slightly when she saw them but it gave her the opportunity to act. In a fraction of a second, which this unintentionally awkward diversion brought along, she grabbed the gun's slide from the person to her right. At the same time, she swang her left leg obliquely backwards and hit the second shooter with a well-aimed kick to his jaw. He spun around and fired his gun reflexively, before it fell out of his hand and he next to it. The bullet bounced against the wall and shot directly through the bartender's head towards Snow. Milliseconds later, he could feel the air draft of the projectile flying past him and winced as it penetrated into the wall, barely next to his head.

And then all hell broke loose as Archie gave out a loud "kill them all" and most people inside the crowd started to run for the entrance in panic while three more jumped up from their seats, pulled out more guns and opened fire on Snow and the little kid.

A sudden adrenaline rush overcame Snow and he began to storm with Hope towards the counter as two weapons rattled off and tored apart the near standing tables and chairs with their bullets. Snow jumped with a well-timed dive over the counter, while Hope slid behind it.

"Damnit, that was close! Why the hell are they shooting at us now?"

"What?…I thought you would have gotten used to it now?...C'mon kid! Watch your head!"

They ducked under the rain of lead balls, bursting bottles and splinters of wood and crawled along the counter.

Her hand still tightly comprising the gun's slide, Lightning underran the arm of it's owner and rammed her elbow into his ribs. It felt good to hear them break. With a short outcry, he released his grip of the gun, staggered a couple of steps back and grasped his chest. Lightning then conveyed him with a roundhouse kick against one of the tables and send a couple of bullets after him.

But the threat was far from over as there was already the first firing burst, which smashed into the chair next to her. Lightning immediately rolled sidewise over the nearest table, overthrowing it to give her a brief cover while the bullets followed her in a straight line. She immediately opened fire herself during her movement but the first two bullets missed and the gun didn't want to spit out more. _Shit! _She knew she had to move fast as the bullets threat to burst the table apart but luckily, Fang was already right on the spot and shattered a chair conscientiously on the shooter's head, who was knocked out in an instant.

While Fang was busy taking care of the guy with her chair, Vanille jumped with full commitment onto the back of her nearest shooter, grabbed around his neck and tugged him back and forth wildly. "Take this!" Her fingernails pierced through his thin shirt into his flesh and the guy shot around wildly into the ceiling. Losing his balance, he keeled over backwards and fell with Vanille on him onto the ground. The girl ignored the pain, which gaped in her back by the fall and entwined the bad guy further with her legs. Fang saw as her lover was in some trouble and put the threat out of commission with a strike into the face.

"You ok, Vanille?"

"Aww…my back hurts."

"Son of a bitch!" Fang punched the guy into his face once more.

* * *

Both of the shooters, who were eager for eliminating Snow and Hope, squeezed past the people running by and continued to unload their lead into the counter. The l'Cie kept crawling until they reached the inner corner.

"Damnit, Hope. Can't you just use your Boomerang?"

"I don't have one. I broke it back in the trunk!"

"So you lied to me, you little punk!"

Hope grabbed Snow's shoulder and began to shake him. "C'mon you fool. We're sitting ducks here." Bullets smashed into the wall next to their heads. "Use the sisters already!"

The shooters banged away with their guns through the counter until the air buzzed of bullets, wood and glas. Snow and Hope both held their arms protectively over their heads.

"What did you say? It's too loud here man!"

* * *

Sazh didn't even had the slightest time to react when the bartender next to him was shed from his back part of the head. The next moment, he was already fighting for his life as two inhuman powerful arms surrounded his neck from behind and yanked him backwards. He was hurled back onto the filthy ground and nearly fell into the pool of blood from Lightnings previous victim. He smashed against the ground with a huge blast while his guns jumped out of their respective holster and slid under one of the tables. Sazh was then met with several kicks and punches from Archie.

"Take a good look at my face." He shouted, followed by another kick. "It's the last one you're ever going to see."

Sazh had curled up to take most of the hits but that wasn't a way to last long and he slowly got angry. Sazh hated being kicked at. _Enough already!_

"Get him!" he screamed and the baby chocobo popped straight out of his afro and dashed towards Archie, who had struck out for the next kick. The chocobo chick prickled with full force between his eyes, forcing him to flinch and to deviate from his attack.

"What the…?" Archie lost his balance and waved around with his hands to get rid of the bird.

Sazh used the moment to kick against Archie's knee, causing him to stumble. He then jumped in a leap to his guns under the table and turned around to face Archie. Sazh hesitated at moment as a thought arose in his head. _This would be a good time for an one-liner now. _But valuable seconds passed as he was unable to think of one and just emptied ten bullets into his enemy.

* * *

Lightning threw away the empty gun, rolled forth behind the table, and dashed towards the two men, who kept shooting at Snow and Hope behind the counter. No one noticed her until it was too late. Lightning-fast, she grabbed the first shooters arm, twisted his arm and struck against his elbow. The snapping of the bone was only drowned out by the agonized scream and the sustained fire from the other shooter. The weapon fell to the ground, followed by himself. The guy was still falling as Lightning turned around her own axis, grabbed the gun out of the air and shot the second guy into his side.

After having perforated Archie, Sazh shot the table above him to pieces and jumped up onto his feet. The very next moment, a further aggressor slashed at him from behind, his knive hissing through the air. Roaring, he struck out with a sweeping blow but Sazh was faster. Much faster. He blocked his blow skillfully, grabbed his neck and pressed his face towards his knee, which he wrenched upwards. The knive slipped from his hand and Sazh then pressed one of his guns onto his body. Four bullets exited through his back and he slumped down in an instant.

"Hey...it stopped!" Without having to duck from flying bullets anymore, Snow peeked briefly into the room and analyzed the situation. He couldn't see that much in all this clutter but he could see that one guy, equipped with two chairs, approached Sazh from behind, while he unloaded a couple of bullets into another one. "Hey, Sazh! Watch your back!" But Sazh didn't show any reaction. _Damnit!_

Snow crowched back to Hope. "Ok, little guy. You wait here and back me up. I'm going to muscle in a bit and deal with this guy there." And he already jumped over the counter into the crowd.

"Snow, wait! Use your GODDAMN Eidolons!" But Snow didn't hear him and marched on to his aim. _Why do they always forget to use them? And what the hell do I have to do to get one? …aaaahhhh._

Snow grabbed the next best barstool and attacked his target daringly. He smashed it against it's back at full tilt but the strike was without much effect. Completely swamped, Snow looked at the stool's remnant in his hands and then saw as the assaulted fellow dropped the chairs and turned around slowly. _Ah, hell. Did I just run into the most obstinate one?_ A powerful blow then pinched Snow who flunged over one of the tables and continued to slither on the ground.

He immediately got his consciousness back and saw as the thug cut his way to him. Still a little dazed, Snow started to grab various things that lay around him and threw it at the attacker but they were all parried. He threw bottles, forks, spoons, a gun... _Wait! Did I just throw a gun away in all this hectic?_

So, he slowly got on his feet, ready to face his attacker. _So I guess we have to do this the hard way then. _"All right...c'mon then!"

The guy mumbled some words which Snow didn't understand and banged his fist into his palm while approaching him. Snow couldn't avoid to smile. _Haha, I never knew how silly that looked._

Suddenly, two bottles burst on the guy's head, causing him to stand still abpruptly. He slowly started to roll his eyes and fell to the ground as Hope appeared right behind him.

"Hope!"

"Didn't you hear what I just said, you fool?"

* * *

While Fang was busy trying to help Vanille to get on her feet, she didn't see one of the remaining guys moving in to grab her from behind. She was pulled back with a jolt and had to see as another guy stormed at her head-on, equipped with an iron bar. Now she had to think fast as the guy stormed at her, with his weapon raised. She thrust her head back and hit her clutching opponent at the jaw, who lost a bit of his grip because of the hit. She then hived off of the ground, caught the neck of the other guy with her legs and broke it with a powerful jolt. He whirled around and smashed into one of the remaining tables.

Immediate pressure built up around her waist again as the guy behind her refound his good grip on her and yanked her backwards so that it nearly took her entire breath away. Fang struggled with all her power as he tried to tug her upwards. She hooked into his leg, causing him to fail at his attempt. She then pushed her bottom forwards and her head backwards with full force to give him his second clout...and his third. Screaming in pain, he lost all of his power in his arms and stumbled back a step. That gave Fang the time to spin around and hit him with a brute spinning kick into his face. He flung a couple of meters backwards and smashed onto the ground.

Still not yielding to her, he slowly pushed himself up and moved towards her, now quicker than ever. _Does this guy ever give up?_ With a back flip, Fang grabbed the iron bar from the ground, took position and wielded it around. _All right...now let's finish this in style! _With her free arm outstretched, she urged him to come closer.

In that moment, a shot roared through the room and sparks emitted from the hanging disco ball. The retainer of it broke right in the middle and the disco ball fell onto the guy's head. Under the force of the hit, he came to a full stop, completely ossified. Without any further movement, the last remaining enemy then keeled over like a felled tree.

_Hey! That was MY guy!_ Fang turned herself into the direction of the shot and stared at Sazh, who stood there with his assault rifle. He transformed it back to his pistols, spun them around his fingers and piled his guns into their holsters. "You're welcome."

_Man, is he a show-off._ "Yeah, I could have handled this guy alone...but thanks anyway, I guess." Fang threw the iron bar onto the ground and went to check up on Vanille as she still lay under one of the unconscious guys.

* * *

Completely exhausted, Snow grabbed one of the remaining chairs in this room and sat himself on it. "Oh my...I'm literally dead." He tipped his chair back and puffed like a grampus as Hope sat himself next to him on a table.

"You already wasted, big man? Pfff..."

"Hey! I was under enormous stress back there" Snow started to nod, still breathing heavily. "But no problem. I managed to retain control over the situation."

"Control? If it wasn't for me, we would scrape you off of the wall now!"

"Just leave me alone, man! Was there any other possibility to begin with?"

Hope pressed his head into his hands and sighed. "You could have just..."_ No, he has to learn it the hard way next time.  
_

Sazh cracked with his fingers and walked to Lightning, who leaned against the entrance door and looked onto the ground. "Hey...that was...we really got away with a black eye there."

"Hmm...you think?"

"Yeah, sure. I mean...when this guy attacked me and you jumped up from your chair and then...BANG...right into his heart. That was...I don't know what to say."

"Don't mention it."

"No, really. Thanks for saving my ass out there...again."

"I said, don't mention it."

Sazh drove his hand through his afro and looked over the room. "Oh boy, look at this mess...well, at least...this place didn't go up in flames. That's a progress, don't you think?"


End file.
